Shamrocks and Pyramids
by Padshii Angel
Summary: I know it's another sister fic but you might just like it. Please give it a chance. Disclaimer: I only own my own O/C, anything else belongs to Steven Somers. I also don't accept challenges.
1. Chapter 1 To new beginnings

**This introduces us to Isobelle, Rick, Evy and a cursory introduction to Jonathon, it only tells us why Isobelle is going to Egypt in the first place, it also says a little about how controlled she is in her actions. The first part of this chapter indicates a woman who is different for the time period the story is set in. (1920's). This is my first ever attempt at any sort of fan fiction story, please bear with me. =3 btw, there are some Arabic words in this story; I'll explain what they mean at the end of the story. I don't own any but my O/C's. I had to use XxRyuuxKagexX as a reference point to make up for my Swiss cheese memory when it comes to the movie. I promise to reference you again in the end. Please let me know if you recognise anything that you feel I have plagiarised and I'll do what I can to change anything you want to copyright. Cheers. =D**

_Wiltshire England 1925_

The tiny woman sat cross-legged in the centre of the inner circle of the sacred standing stones.

She shivered as the wind caressed her exposed skin, wishing regretfully that she had kept at least her shirt on instead of sitting exposed to the elements in only her worn, form fitting black pants and an old threadbare camisole that was too big for her slight muscular frame anyway.

The wind plucked at her camisole, dragging the fabric across her rib cage and toyed playfully with the hip length ebony fall of curls that she had merely pulled back into a band she had found before going out to the sacred site. Her eyelids hid her obsidian eyes; her black eyelashes fanned her high, proud cheeks in twin crescents.

Dew was clinging to her ivory skin, running down her light, deceptively strong arms as she simply sat on the cold grass under the cold, heartless light of the moon waiting patiently. The rest of her clothes, including her customary calfskin boots and all of her weapons, a small light weight khopesh she'd been given just before she left her home in Egypt, a shotgun, two handguns and several kunai and shuriken she'd bought while doing business for the British government in Japan two years before.

She had given up shivering hours ago, abandoning the useless action for near perfect motionlessness, the only movement she made was deep even breathing as she waited for the moon to reach its highest point. She knew exactly when her wait was over by the sudden burning of the twelve tattoo-like 'shamrocks' covering the inside of her left wrist.  
"I take it ye'll be lookin' to get rid o' those favour marks then lass?" she heard the reedy Irish lilt but kept her eyes closed, simply responding with a nod and ignoring the protest of stiff muscles and the cold tickling sensation as the drops of dew trickled slowly down her ivory skin.

She heard the soft pattering swish of grass as the leprechaun skipped merrily in a circle around her. She noticed idly that the direction he moved in was widdershins binding the magic she was surrounded by even tighter around her.

"I would ask, kind master, what this favour you would ask of me is." The woman fished subtly her voice husky from several hours of disuse.

"I have business overseas." The little man stated. "I need you to smuggle me out of the country and carry me to a city in Egypt. Once there I will get out of your hair." She nodded silently, keeping her eyes shut. After several moments she nodded once and moved her right hand out, extending it to the short man who took it without hesitation, sealing the deal.

"I accept your offer kind master." She paused and then added; "If you removed another mark I could carry you back when your business is done." She felt his hand tighten about her own dainty fingertips.

"I accept your bargain lassie." He said cheerily. "I have the feeling we'll make fine travelling companions, Isobelle O'Connell." The woman's eyes shot open as the little man made this declaration. "I think ye've heard o' the ci'y o' Hamunaptra."  
Isobelle started violently when she recognised the name of the city of the dead. She watched in shock as his pasty white face turn to transparency followed slowly by his scarlet hair and dark green clothes, steadily being replaced by emerald and white light which shot straight through her ivory skin where she felt the magical creature's essence pool safe and sound in her womb.  
Finally the only evidence she had left of the little man's presence in the circle, and hidden away in her body, was the overwhelming urge to leave her country home in Wiltshire England.

_Cairo Egypt, just outside the prison._

Isobelle walked calmly over to the prison entrance where she saw her unkempt older half-brother walking out with a young couple. She heard the Leprechaun's whisper in her mind, telling her the pair were brother and sister. She walked up with a huge grin for her brother.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded incredulously when he recognised the sister he had essentially banished from Egypt four years before.

"I was in town, heard you got yourself into some trouble but I see you're no longer in need of my services." Isobelle replied breezily.

"That doesn't explain why you're here." Rick said coldly, not bothering to join in the repartee Isobelle took part in with the ease of a spy.

"Suffice it to say I'm here on a business venture O'Connell." Isobelle decided to cut to the chase. "As much as it pains me to admit it; I need your help with this enterprise of mine."  
Rick turned her words over in his mind carefully looking for anything to take offense in. "I'll pay you if that's what it takes." She added with a nonchalant shrug.

"I've been hired by the lady; I'm taking her to the city of Hamunaptra." Rick said warily.

"I'll tag along then." Isobelle invited herself cheerfully. "Hamunaptra is where I'm headed anyway." She smiled a too sweet smile at her brother.

"Excuse me Mr. O'Connell, how do you know this woman?" the woman beside him asked.

"Miss Carnahan, My sister Isobelle O'Connell." Rick made the introduction. "You've lost weight _Asha._" He added scathingly. Isobelle shrugged.

"Like I said _Richard_ I'll join you on your own venture." She smiled sweetly. "Once I've finished at the city I'll leave Egypt and be out of your hair." Rick turned this over in his mind cautiously and finally nodded, clasping her hand and shaking it firmly.

"I had hoped you would never come back here, you do know that don't you?" He asked her, turning to lead the way back to the fort. The Carnahans went their own way.

"When did you become such a filthy swine?" Isobelle countered deliberately insulting him.

"Since I spent a month in prison because of a prissy pom picking my damn pocket." Rick responded irately effectively putting an end to that line of conversation. "I want you to promise me after this you won't come back to Egypt" Isobelle shook her head as she stepped over a dirty old man lying passed out on the street.

"I will never understand how such people can waste their time drinking, especially at this time of day." Isobelle observed after skirting two drunken brawlers.

"Because in this place you either have to be drunk or insane." Rick responded darkly, ref erring to the less savoury parts of Cairo. "Preferably both." Isobelle grimaced in agreement with him.

"I can't make any promises Rick. I work for the British government, they tell me to go somewhere and I do." She jumped over an open sewer grate landing daintily on the other side, further fortifying her brother's belief that she didn't belong in the cesspit that was the back streets of Cairo in 1925.

"Do you have any of your stuff with you?" Rick asked suddenly, taking in her polished appearance and expecting her to respond with an 'at the hotel.' He was shocked at her response when she pulled a knife out of its harness at her waist and a hidden short barrel revolver from its holster strapped to the slim ivory column of her thigh.

"The less easily concealed weapons are still at my hotel, along with my clothes and throwing knives." She said hiding the knife and gun again.  
"If I need to I can also use my fists, my skirt has hidden slits to make movement easier." She stepped over a pool of drying blood and looked into the alley where she could see the vague outline of a body that had been dragged there.  
"I had forgotten how much I loved Cairo." She muttered acerbically; a veiled vituperation of the swinish streets she and her brother had run through after their father's death over thirteen years before. "The smell of desolation and greed. The sounds of hucksters and the sights of abuse."  
She fell silent after several moments.

"I need to get cleaned up." Rick said suddenly. "You as good with a pair of scissors as I remember?"  
Isobelle shrugged as she put her head down, avoiding the sight of barely clad whores and only slightly more well presented courtesans.  
Her brother kept his eyes straight ahead, avoiding the gazes of the trollops that had decided to try to get some early work in when they saw Rick. "Thinking about how narrowly you avoided that?" He asked when he saw the look on her face.  
She nodded silently.

"I'll do what I can with your hair." She changed the subject abruptly, struggling not to think about when she had been turned out by Rick's mother after their father had died of Malaria nearly fourteen years before.  
Publicly, Elizabeth O'Connell had made a good show of loving the mewling infant stepdaughter thrust upon her suddenly when her husband brought home the result of the affair he'd had with an Egyptian woman; privately, where no one but Isobelle and Rick could see, Elizabeth had been a truly malevolent woman.  
Rick, ten years Isobelle's senior had soon joined her in the orphanage when he ran away from home to join the helpless orphan girl.  
For six months he'd left food out for her but that had stopped about a week before he joined her.

"I did what I could to make your life easier for you." He said suddenly grabbing her by the shoulder. "The reason I stopped leaving food out for you is because mom caught me doing it." Isobelle nodded and turned down one street, following her brother to the fort of the French Foreign Legion.  
"If I'd been able to I would have kept putting food out for you."

"It's in the past Richard." Isobelle shrugged affecting an air of nonchalance. "Leave it there, I have."

She hurried ahead of her brother, dancing lightly up the steps of the fort. Rick caught up with her, his longer stride easily overtaking her own short, dainty steps.

"I meant what I said when you left the first time Isobelle." He said as he led her up to his apartment in the fort. "I don't want you back here." Isobelle stopped suddenly as her ire rose perilously.  
Rick took several steps before he noticed she was not following him. "What are you doing Asha?" he asked, walking back to her.

"You don't have any say in where I choose to travel." She uttered in a glacial tone giving her older brother pause. "You were the one who demanded I leave Egypt altogether,  
I did as you bade me, but I also have to work for a living and this is how I do that." Rick opened his mouth to say something but she held up a hand to silence him, the hard, black look in her eyes told him more than words or gestures could do that she was not in a philandering mood.  
"You cannot tell me what to do anymore Richard O'Connell. I serve the British government, they say to me; 'Go to Egypt.' And I go to Egypt." She turned on her heel and stalked back down the narrow stairwell in a magnificent snit.  
Rick groaned in frustration and followed her.

"I'm sorry Asha." He called after her as she hastened away from him, her shoulders set, her carriage one of proud indignation. "You should know me well enough to know by now that I don't want my family anywhere dangerous." He cautioned hopefully.  
When she faltered in her next step he knew he had her forgiveness. "I'll let it drop if that's what you want." He added and she turned around to face him, still looking furious, but he could see in her expressive dark eyes that it was fizzling out, that she was more holding it around herself as a mantle, using it for the strength to turn her back on her brother.

"We make a pact here and now." She said softly, visibly trying to convey danger into her tone and failing. Rick nodded eagerly, not wishing to lose his little sister, even if her arrival eighteen years ago had torn his family apart.  
"What happened in the past stays there. We do not bring it up, we move on from events that have happened."

"I have a better idea." He mouthed humbly. "You and I start anew. From this moment on we have a new relationship as brother and sister." He stuck out his hand, silently pleading with her to take his hand. Isobelle nodded and took his hand and they shook, sealing the pact.

"I'll try not to remove an ear for you Rick." She jested lightly and they turned to go back to his apartment in the fort.

**This is the revised chapter, sorry to everyone who tried to read it before, i hadn't realised it was so hard to read. :s I'm working at fixing that now.**


	2. Chapter 2 Burning on the Nile

**Hey, sorry, here's the revised chapter two. all feed back is appreciated, and even encouraged by the way people. enjoy. **

"He's a complete scoundrel, absolutely nothing to like about him." Isobelle smirked when she heard the Carnahan woman's words.  
Rick took everything in stride, walking up behind the pair with a cheerful: "Anyone I know?" The woman looked at him startled, as if noticing how good looking Isobelle's brother actually was for the first time. Isobelle rolled her eyes, used to this reaction to her brother.

"Mr. O'Connell, I want you to promise me that this isn't some sort of a-a flim-flam or scam of some kind." Evelyn started nervously. "Because if it is, I'm warning you."

"You're threatening me?" Rick asked seriously. "Lady, my entire garrison believed in Hamunaptra so much that without orders we travelled halfway across Libya and into Egypt to find it, and when we got there all we found was sand and blood."  
He nodded and bent to pick up her bag when Mr. Carnahan walked over to him.

"No hard feelings O'Connell, old boy?" He asked nervously, lightly punching Rick on the shoulder. Isobelle watched sardonically as Rick checked to make certain he still had his wallet.  
"Oh, no, no, I never steal from a partner, partner." He said with a nervous laugh. Rick nodded putting his wallet back.

"Yeah, right, by the way, no hard feelings about the, uh." Rick mimed punching, to which the polished clod waved it off as a regular occurrence.  
Rick nodded and picked up the woman's bags and walked onto the boat, Isobelle shifted her rucksack higher onto her shoulder and followed closely, uncomfortably aware of the attention her unusual garb was attracting. The woman stopped her swiftly though.

"Miss O'Connell..." she started hesitantly.  
Isobelle looked at her in amazement, looking closely at the taller woman struck by how similar they looked; both women had long black curls.  
The biggest difference between them was their height; miss Carnahan being of middling height while Isobelle barely made five feet, the other woman's eyes were a warm doe brown and there was a more feminine cast to her pretty features but otherwise the two could have been sisters. "May I ask why you are coming with us?" Isobelle shrugged at the question.

"I'm here on business." She answered evasively, highly aware that the woman would not believe Isobelle's 'business'.  
"I'm not at liberty to discuss it." She added when she saw the woman getting ready to ask what it was. She nodded quietly and didn't press the matter, letting Isobelle board the boat.  
As she walked away she heard the woman's brother say cheekily;

"No, nothing there to like at all." With a small smile Isobelle found her cabin and dropped her hemp bag onto her bed and opened her rucksack.  
She pulled several weapons out of the large bag, and then got to her clothes, mostly the pants and shirts that she was comfortable in.  
Her brush was in the very bottom of her bag and she rolled her eyes silently as she dug it out to pull through the confusion of wild curls.  
She'd just finished repacking her rucksack when her brother knocked on the door.

"Mind if I come in Bells?" he asked tentatively when she looked up at him.  
She nodded wearily as she put the heavy bag down on the floor and pulled her wakizashi out to inspect the blade for signs of rust and ageing.

"I never understood why you started calling me that." She mused idly as she pulled a rag out of a side pocket on the rucksack. Rick shrugged as he sat down beside her to watch her cleaning the blade lovingly.

"You used to hate being called Isobelle when you were three so I started calling you Bells because you liked the sound of it." He explained quietly, aware he was already breaking the rules of the pact by telling her.  
She smirked as she remembered that shadowy little piece of her past.  
"Where do you live now?" He decided to ask it out of a need for conversation. She remained silent for several pregnant moments before answering him.

"I own property in Wiltshire." She replied honestly. "That was my one condition for working for the government. That I have my own refuge where they would not disturb me.  
Once a week I go to the village near my home to buy what I can't grow and to collect my mail."  
She held the blade up close to her face, inspecting it carefully before deciding she was happy with it. "The cottage is very comfortable, it's not Cairo, but it's a home of sorts."

"You weren't happy about leaving Egypt were you?" Rick asked as he realised what she had just revealed to him. She shook her head and got up.

"I'm going to find something to eat, no more talking about the past." She said as she walked to the door.  
One of the crew came running along the walkway outside her door informing everyone that they were about to cast off. Isobelle nodded when she was told this information and asked for directions to the kitchen on board the spacious river trawler.

"Miss O'Connell?" The Librarian asked quietly, poking her head around the door of Isobelle's room hesitantly. Isobelle looked up from the book on Ancient Egyptian deities she had been reading sharply when she heard the woman speak.

"Miss Carnahan, come in." The spy said pleasantly, setting the literature aside and rising from the seat in her room.

"Call me Evy, all my friends do." She smiled nervously.

"Then you simply must call me Isobelle." The young woman responded with a genuine smile.

"Thank you, Isobelle." Evy seemed flustered about something and Isobelle decided to wait, giving the other woman all of her attention. "Your brother, Mr. O'Connell, can he be trusted implicitly?"  
Evy spat it out in a rush. "What I mean to say is, well, he's not just taking us on a wild goose chase into the desert is he?" Isobelle cocked an eyebrow at the guileless librarian standing before her.

"Yes, my brother can be trusted. He kept me as safe as he could when I was cast out onto the streets of Cairo at four years of age, and then worked hard to get me out of the country and into what he felt was a safer environment. Richard has never once in my eighteen years lied to me.  
If he tells me he's taking you to Hamunaptra I believe him." Isobelle defended almost vehemently. "However I guess that is not the only reason you are in here asking me about my brother."  
When Evy blushed a rather pretty shade of pink Isobelle guessed the older woman's purpose in asking about Rick readily. "I see, well Evy Carnahan, the only thing I can say is wait and watch, if he reciprocates your interest then you can do no better for a loyal and trustworthy man."

"Just before I tried to free him from the hangman's knot he kissed me." She blurted out shyly. Isobelle laughed softly.

"I see you're hoping for an insight as to why he did that?" When Evy nodded Isobelle shook her head. "I haven't seen him for five years. I can offer you no insight as to why he would do that." At Evelyn's crestfallen expression Isobelle smiled kindly.  
"I can however advise you to go and ask him that yourself."

Isobelle was on her way to talk to Rick when she caught a furtive movement out of the corner of her eye. Frowning she drew her gun and followed it, surprised to find Rick and Evy talking, and a dirty little man listening intently to their conversation.  
Rolling her eyes she put the gun away and pulled out her favoured dagger. She snuck up behind the man just as Rick pulled him out of the shadows.

"Wh-what a surprise! My good friend, you are alive! I was so very, very worried." Isobelle thought she detected a Hungarian accent as the prattling fool tried to talk her older brother down.

"Well if it isn't my buddy Beni, I think I'm gonna kill you right now." Rick pulled his gun out and aimed it point blank against the Hungarians head.

"Think about my children!" He cringed Isobelle's suspicions about the man's nationality were confirmed when she heard his already thick accent thicken in genuine fear.\

"You don't have any children." Rick snapped, shoving at Beni in disgust.

"Someday I might." Beni muttered hopefully.

"So you're the one leading the Americans to Hamunaptra." Rick eyed him with distaste. "So what's the deal, you take them out into the desert and then you leave them to _rot_?"

"Unfortunately no." Beni replied nervously, his eyes darting around nervously. "These Americans are smart. They only pay me half now and half when we get back to Cairo.  
"Anyway what are you doing O'Connell? You never believed in Hamunaptra anyway." The man who was dangling from her brother's hands accused boldly.  
Rick set him back on his feet then he pointed out Evy, who he had noticed talking quietly to the camels.

"You see that girl, she saved my neck. I owe her." O'Connell admitted.  
|Isobelle walked up behind Beni and nodded to her older brother, holding a hand up to her lips. Beni started laughing at Rick's admission.

"You always did have more balls than brains O'Connell." He said with a huge grin. Rick started laughing as well, but it was a forced laugh that Isobelle had heard before.  
She made a tossing motion and pointed to the side of the boat. Rick patted Beni's shoulder in feigned camaraderie and steered him to the side of the boat.

"Goodbye Beni." He cheered as he threw the ruffian overboard. Isobelle walked over to her brother's side and watched the sad little wretch as he struggled to the edge of the river.

"You haven't changed." Isobelle noted drily, clapping her brother on the shoulder himself. Then she turned to enter her cabin which was directly behind the pair, the sounds of Beni crying for help emanating from the river.  
In her room she was just about to start getting ready for bed when she heard gunshots from up at the other end of the river boat.  
And she gave up, leaving her long hair loose she shoved her jacket back on and picked up her bags, preparing to bail.  
"Time to go." She muttered as the screams became louder, as well as the sounds of gun fire. A loud bang on her door had her ripping a gun out of its holster and aiming it at the door a split second before she heard her brother yell through the thin wood;

"Time to go Bells! Can you swim?" she was about to reply that of course she could swim while putting her gun away she heard the outraged reply from Evy;

"Of course I can swim! If the occasion calls for it." Isobelle rolled her eyes as she emerged from her room, preparing to jump over the side of the boat and into the river.  
She spotted a black robed desert man take aim and she calmly pulled her gun back out and shot him, her aim lethally accurate. Rick picked Evy up as he and Isobelle both said;

"Trust me it calls for it." Isobelle tucked her gun away and hoisted her bags higher before leaping over the raised side of the boat and landing feet first in the water at the precise moment Rick threw Evy overboard.  
The smaller Egyptian woman struggled to stay afloat, her two bags weighing her down in the water as she waited patiently for her older brother to join her and the other people abandoning the boat in the water and help her carry her load.  
When he did he had his own bag but he swam over to her and in tandem they swam to the bank of the river, followed closely by a struggling Evy, her brother, whom Isobelle had found out was called Jonathon and a rather unscrupulous looking little man. As Evy staggered out of the water she made a sound of disgust, looking like a drowned rat she started on a spiel.

"We've lost everything." Isobelle dropped down onto the bank gratefully, breathing heavily.  
"All of our tools, all of the equipment." Isobelle looked at a soaking wet Evy sympathetically. "All of my clothes." The librarian finished unhappily and Isobelle started rooting through her bag, searching intently.

"You can use this until we get you some new clothes Evy." Isobelle said as she handed out the one item of relatively dry clothing in her rucksack, a long heavy over coat that Isobelle was used to carrying with her after four years living in England.  
Evy took the coat gratefully and donned it swiftly.

"O'Connell!" Isobelle winced when she heard a now familiar grating voice with a Hungarian accent call out loudly. "Hey O'Connell, it looks to me like I've got all the horses!"  
Rick looked up grimly, Isobelle pulled out her gun, aiming it steadily at the little Hungarian man in irritation.  
Rick glanced at her and shook his head in warning.  
Isobelle huffed angrily but put the weapon away.

"I was just going to scare him." She muttered unhappily.

"Hey Beni!" Rick responded to the Hungarian's taunt confidently. "Looks like you're on the wrong side of the _ri-ver_!"  
Rick made his way over to where Isobelle stood, glaring after the little hellion on the opposite riverbank. "Do you never unpack?" he asked, noticing her spreading her clothes out on the ground.

"No point, if I need to make a quick getaway I've found it's easier to keep a bag handy so I can just get out." Isobelle shrugged and picked up a white shirt that had managed to escape the river mostly unscathed, along with a pair of pants that were only damp. "Turn, I'm not walking through the desert at night in sodden clothes."  
She stripped her weapons harnesses off and made to remove her shirt but thought better of it when she saw the nauseating exiguous and rotund man watching her.  
"I'd rather be eaten by a crocodile." She muttered as she moved into the reeds at the edge of the river.  
When she re-emerged she was slotting her knife back into its sheath on her thigh. Her revolvers were in their holsters under her arms and her shotgun was through its own holster across her back.  
The Wakizashi she favoured was hanging at her left hip and her rifle was slung over her right shoulder, ready to use at a moment's notice.

"We go that way." Rick said pointing in the direction Isobelle could feel the need to go.

"What are we waiting for then?" Isobelle asked, hoisting her bags onto her shoulders as well and walking in the direction her brother had pointed out to her.  
"Let's get a move on." Evy rushed to catch up with her, tugging the edges of the coat closer to cover her nightgown.

"Thank you for loaning me your coat Isobelle." Evy conveyed her genuine gratitude in her guileless way.

"No problems, I've been in the same little fix myself once before, only no one had a spare coat to offer me." Isobelle revealed in an attempt at conviviality.  
As the five of them walked away from the burning riverboat the Americans lost time trying to gather all of the horses together.


	3. Chapter 3 Hamunaptra

**Yay! just fixed this one! nearly done, now just got to adjust chapter four and i can post it. =D**

Isobelle watched Evy as she was shown how to put the fustan on. Isobelle had already put on her own fustan and hatta with minimal difficulty, she'd left pulling her veil up until she and Evy were both ready to leave the merchant's tent.  
Evy seemed to be having a lot of fun as she tried several times to settle her own hatta and failed. Isobelle shook her head and walked over to Evy, pulling her hatta off.

"Like this Evy." She demonstrated it slowly, watching as Evy copied Isobelle's movements carefully. "Shukran Kayamma."  
The woman Isobelle had directed this to nodded.

"Aafwaan bint." She replied, her dark eyes glowing with pleasure. Evy and Isobelle walked out of the tent after Isobelle showed the young librarian how to arrange her veil.

"Ma'a salama." Isobelle said after handing money over to the woman.

"Alla ysalmak." She replied.  
Isobelle could feel Evy's question forming as the pair walked over to where Jonathon was trying to get five camels for them.

"Five! I only want five camels not a whole bloody herd." Jonathon huffed angrily. "O'Connell, can you believe the check?" The man he stood in front of glanced at Isobelle darkly and continued insisting he didn't speak fluent English when Isobelle knew better.  
Rick walked past Jonathon, slapping the British fool on the shoulder.

"Will you just pay the man so we can get out of here?" Rick demanded, eager to be off.  
Jonathon gave up bartering and handed over some money, accepting the animals he wanted with bad grace.

"Isobelle, can I ask why you called that woman mother?" Evy chose that moment to ask Isobelle.

"That woman is my mother's mother." Isobelle replied softly. "I lived with my father's family and mother's tribe accepted that." Isobelle said sadly. "I used to spend three months a year among that particular tribe until dad died; then I lived on the streets because even they did not want the orphaned bastard of their chieftain's disgraced daughter.  
"They tolerated my time with them because dad was paying them to make certain I knew about my heritage as a Bedouin woman." Isobelle caught her brother and Jonathon watching the two women closely.

"Yes, awfully tempting thought isn't it." Jonathon said suddenly, his steadfast gaze fixed on Isobelle. Rick said nothing, his eyes fixed firmly on Evy, who smiled sweetly at him as she stopped in front of him.  
Isobelle walked up to Jonathon and took the reins of one camel.

"Inzil." Isobelle issued the command firmly. When the animal obeyed she carefully hung her two bags onto it's back behind her saddle and climbed gracefully into the saddle.  
"Huthut." She called, tapping the cute creature's side lightly with the switch the man selling the camels handed to her.  
She caught sight of the warden who had decided to tag along to protect his share of the findings at Hamunaptra as he came around another tent being chased away by some of the other women in the encampment.  
He saw her dressed as one of the women and eyed her boorishly. Isobelle averted her gaze from him, her skin crawling as she suddenly felt tawdry under his indecent perusal of her.  
"Rick, are we ready to go?" she called to her brother, praying that she could get over how scatological she felt around the warden.  
The warden struggled onto his own camel as Evy got up onto hers. Rick finished tying down the supplies he'd just bought and mounted as well.  
Jonathon's camel had decided to wander around while he was trying to mount it.  
Isobelle nudged hers over to it, taking pity on the man and with a secretive smile she ordered the animal to get down in Arabic.

"Never did like camels." Jonathon commented as the party of five rode across the desert.  
They'd been riding for two days solid and the sun was setting to their left. "Filthy buggers, they smell, they bite, the spit." His last complaint towards the beasts they were riding on, was punctuated by Warden Gad Hassan spitting.  
Isobelle and Jonathon both gagged as they caught his particular perfume, carried to them by the very light breeze.  
Isobelle considered stopping her camel to throw up but thought better of it when she remembered she hadn't eaten anything since just after she got onto the riverboat.

"I think they're adorable." Evy defended, stretching out a dainty hand to pet her mount on its head.  
Isobelle nodded in agreement as she urged her camel to move in line with Evelyn's.  
The warden started to sing a raunchy song in Arabic that Isobelle found she could understand perfectly, her cheeks heated as she realised he was watching her as he sang.  
Rick looked questioningly at his sister but she shook her head.

"Just need to stop for a moment." She excused herself faintly. "It's not urgent." Rick nodded and glanced back at the warden as well; figuring Isobelle needed a chance to get away from their unsavoury travelling companion.

Isobelle and Evy both fell asleep on their camels as they rode through the night. Rick looked to his right and found Evy leaning on his shoulder, the reins of her camel slack in her hands, and to his left was the same thing with Isobelle.  
He reached out and took each woman's reins and led the animals while they both slept. Behind him Warden Gad Hassan started snoring, waking Isobelle and Jonathon both up.  
Isobelle took her reins back and shifted her animal further away from her brother and Jonathon responded to being woken up by whipping the piggy little warden and swiftly returning to the position he had been in when he was woken by the warden's obnoxious snoring.  
Isobelle growled low in the back of her throat, her displeasure written plainly across her compellingly beautiful dark features.

"Remind me why that pestiferous swine had to join us?" Isobelle asked her brother quietly, aware of her new found friend slumbering on her brother's shoulder.

"Because he's a greedy little bastard, and at times I find him to be a lot more agreeable than you Asha." Rick responded tiredly. "He at least I can understand most of the time."

"I've had to learn how to have a Shakespearean way with words. In my line of work I need to be faster than most people at getting what I'm after and I use whatever means necessary." She said softly.  
"It's become second nature to me to use a more articulate vocabulary." Rick rolled his eyes. "I have to know more words because I need to be able to step in and out of the different social classes easily.  
"It's easier for me to use all the words I know in their respective contexts so that I have them on hand when I need them." She noticed him pull up his camel and she did the same, surprised when she felt a more urgent tug forward behind her navel.  
A short distance away from the small travelling party the Americans Rick had told Isobelle about the night before were near them, looking around in curiosity.  
The Hungarian named Beni had a huge nervous grin for Rick.

"Good morning my friend." The Hungarian called to Isobelle's brother before perusing Isobelle's dress clad form. She glared at him, her black eyes shooting daggers and Beni looked away just as quickly as when he'd tried to talk Rick down on the boat.  
Evy jerked awake as her sleep addled mind registered her camel's cease of movement.

"Why are we stopping?" she asked looking around groggily. "We can't be there yet." She seemed to be wondering what was wrong.

"What the hell are we doing?" an almost blond American demanded irritably.

"Patience my good barat'm."

"Remember our bet O'Connell. First one to the city, five hundred cash bucks." One of the Americans said arrogantly.  
Isobelle ignored them, her attention centred up on a cliff with dark robed riders simply watching them in a long line of black.

"Hundred of those bucks are yours if you help us win." Another American said to Beni who nodded restlessly before saying to Rick;

"O'Connell, nice camels." Rick's only response to the taunt was to reach out and pet his camel.

"Wait for it." Rick told his sister, the Carnahan's and Hassan tacitly.

"For what?" the two women asked in tandem.

"We're about to be shown the way." Rick responded patiently as the sun slowly began to make its way over the horizon.  
The Hungarian watched just as patiently as Rick did. Isobelle shook off her slumber as she watched the sun rise; its majestic path lighting up the desert, and closer than she expected, the city shimmered into view.  
The ruins appearing almost as if they had been waiting for the travellers to approach for centuries.

"Would you look at that?" One of the Americans whistled appreciatively as his companion whispered the words in awe.

"Can you believe it?" another one asked in a hushed tone.

"Hamunaptra." A fourth American finished almost inaudibly. Isobelle glanced at her brother briefly before turning to watch the riders in fascinated silence resisting the urge to point the men out to her brother.

"Here we go again." Rick muttered darkly and the small Egyptian woman finally managed to tear her dark gaze away from the line of horsemen on the cliff when she felt her brother's camel shoot forward from beside her. Isobelle urged her own mount forward by tapping on her flank with the switch and making urging noises in her bell-like voice.  
Around her the Americans were urging their horses on with shouts and whistles, ahead of her Evy and Rick had a narrow lead and Beni was striking Rick repeatedly with his crop.  
Isobelle urged her camel level with Beni's horse. She released the reins of her mount and twisted enough that she could get a decent swing.  
Beni grunted as her fist connected with his unshaven jaw and Rick grabbed the sad fellow's shirt and jerked him backwards out of the saddle, effectively knocking him right out of the race and cheating him of his one hundred American dollars.

"Goodbye Beni." Isobelle threw back over her shoulder, throwing her head back and laughing joyously, finding herself genuinely enjoying herself in the race.  
Behind her Evy's brother, Jonathon whooped encouragingly;

"Go Evy!" Isobelle watched as Evy won the race, followed closely by Rick and Isobelle.  
The Americans had galloped into Hamunaptra at the same time that Jonathan and Gad reached the city and Beni arrived among the diggers of his own party half an hour later while everyone was setting up their own camps.

Isobelle laid her clothes out to dry on the lines Rick had set out for her and Evy to use while Rick finished setting up the tent where she and Evy would be sleeping.  
Evy was wondering around the ruins with a look of unadulterated reverence and wonderment.  
Jonathon was playing with an ancient mirror while the warden eyed off Isobelle in his repugnant way.  
Isobelle found herself wondering about the riders on the cliff as she worked at spreading her stuff out on the lines and inspecting each item of clothing for mould.  
When her task was done she decided to wander around herself.  
She felt the leprechaun stirring in her womb but she didn't let him out.

"If you can wait a little longer I can let you out tonight." She muttered, not knowing if the creature could hear her.

"Asha!" Rick called out at the top of his lungs. "We're going into the temple if you want to come." Isobelle shot back to her own camping ground.

"If you can wait for me to get out of this dress I'll join you." She yelled in response to her brother.  
At the entrance Isobelle watched her brother throw a rope down into the hole they had opened.

"Look for bugs." Gad ordered. "I hate bugs." Isobelle rolled her eyes as she followed her brother down into the temple and was followed by Evy.

"Do you realise we are standing in a room no one has entered in over three thousand years?" Evy whispered in awe as she looked around the darkened chamber.

"What is that god awful smell?" Jonathon asked as he reached the bottom of the rope and turned to survey the dark room.  
His question was answered when the greedy little warden nearly landed on him. "Oh, never mind." He added distastefully. Isobelle grimaced.  
Evy found a mirror in the shadows of the room and brushing off over three thousand years of cobwebs from the tarnished surface of the disc, tilted it.

"And then there was light.'" She said triumphantly as the mirror caught the light and the room was lit up by two rows of mirrors.

"Hey, that is neat trick." Rick commented in admiration of the woman's knowledge.  
Isobelle merely raised one finely formed eyebrow at him, a silent challenge. "Well it is pretty neat Bells." He defended himself fervently.

"Oh my god." Evy exclaimed looking carefully around the room they were standing in.

"Is this what I think it is?" Isobelle asked the older woman in stunned admiration.

"It's a sah-ned-jey." Evy confirmed, looking as if she'd just been given a priceless gift; Isobelle figured she had been if Evelyn's reaction was anything to go by.

"A what now?" Rick inquired perplexity written across his rough good looks.

"A preparation room." Evy and Isobelle said in unison, neither paying attention to anything but the cavernous chamber.

"Preparation for what?" Rick questioned almost nervously.

"For entering the afterlife." Evy declared hauntingly snapping out of her reverie of the chamber and grinning at first Rick and then Isobelle.

"So what did they do in here?" Rick asked of Evy; however it was Jonathon who answered him.

"Mummies, my good sir." Jonathon met Isobelle's gaze with a grin. "This is where they made the mummies." Evy had already started exploring and Rick had already seen the narrow archway and only slightly broader hallway beyond it.

As they made their way down it they heard what sounded like millions of tiny exo-skeletons rubbing against each other repeatedly.

"I say, what was that?" Jonathon asked nervously, searching around himself for the source of the noise.

"Sounds like, bugs." Rick responded in a deliberately thoughtful tone loud enough for the warden who had brought up the rear could hear.  
Isobelle met Evy's gaze with a cheeky grin as she spun around and hissed in a stage whisper;

"He said bugs!" Isobelle stifled a small laugh.

"What do you mean bugs?" Gad demanded almost hysterically, searching around himself for the offending creatures. "I hate bugs!"  
The greedy little man's decree proved to be too much for her, she started laughing uncontrollably, doubling over and leaning on the wall and slapping it in her mirth repeatedly.

"Well, I'm glad someone finds it amusing." Jonathon muttered acerbically as he stepped around her.

They reached the chamber that held the legs of Anubis shortly after Isobelle managed to regain control of her laughter.  
Evy seemed to be in a trance of euphoric rapture that only increased the further into the city they went. Truth be told Isobelle couldn't blame her given the younger woman was just as thrilled to be in such a beautiful place that had so much to do with her own heritage as an Egyptian woman.

"The legs of Anubis!" Evy announced ardently. "The secret compartment should be hidden somewhere inside here." She pointed to the pedestal the feet of the colossal statue rested on.  
Isobelle registered the faint noise before she'd even heard it and she and Rick both pulled out their guns.  
Slowly she cocked her gun as she pressed up against the pedestal and stepped softly to the corner directly behind her brother.  
Rick didn't look happy that she was behind him but said nothing about it. Isobelle stood as still as her brother did, feeling his thick ropy muscles bunching beside her as he got ready to spring out from around the statue.  
Isobelle remained relaxed as her brother stiffened even more beside her, she heard another faint sound and she sprung forward, around her brother as he twisted to face the guns of the Americans that had decided to dig at the feet of Anubis as well.

"You scared the bejesus out of us O'Connell." Henderson said cordially, lowering his gun cautiously.

"Likewise." Rick answered abruptly, reluctantly lowering his guns at his sister's urging. Isobelle was aware of the appreciative looks the Americans were directing at her as she stood beside her brother.

"Hey!" One of them called suddenly in outrage. "That's my tool kit!" A bespectacled American exclaimed stepping forward.  
Evy gave Rick a look of censure as she stepped backwards automatically.

"No, I don't think so." Rick's guns were once again pointed at the Americans before him.  
They too had their guns up and Isobelle almost sighed as her own weapon ended up being aimed calmly at the American who had stepped up to claim the toolkit that was presently clutched tightly against Evy's chest.

"I could be mistaken." The American who had claimed ownership of the tool kit backed up when he saw two guns aimed steadily at him. The Egyptologist suddenly piped up.

"What are you doing with these unscrupulous characters miss Laing?" Isobelle briefly considered ignoring him but decided against it.

"I have business with O'Connell." She said shortly, shifting the gun in one easy move to point it directly at the Egyptologist's left eye.  
He didn't seem to notice, smirking he turned to Rick.

"If you think you can make an honest woman out of her you're sorely mistaken." He watched as Rick's hand tightened on the gun and shifted inexorably to be pointed at him. "She's well ridden." The fool didn't seem to know how much trouble his words were getting him into.

"You would consider yourself aware of this would you, Dr. Chamberlain?" Isobelle asked sweetly.

"That's my sister you're talking about, buddy." Rick bit out through clenched teeth. Dr. Chamberlain looked taken aback.  
Evy stepped in then, ever the sweet young diplomat.

"Have a nice day gentlemen, we have a lot of work to be getting along with." She offered a sweet smile to all of the men assembled before her.

"Push off!" Chamberlain snapped waspishly. "This is our dig site."

"We got here first." Evelyn responded, a hard edge in her soft voice, her amazing dark eyes narrowed in anger.

"This here's our statue, friend." Henderson responded just as harshly.

"I don't see your name on it. Pal." Rick said, once again aiming both guns at Henderson. Beni piped up then, his voice grating on Isobelle's ears.

"There's only five of you, and fifteen of me." His sounded smug as he said these words. "Your odds are not so great O'Connell." Isobelle pulled her second gun out of its holster and levelled it in front of Beni's left eye.

"I've had worse." The siblings said in unison.

"Me too." Jonathon piped up unnecessarily, earning an incredulous look from both O'Connells.  
Isobelle quickly returned her attention to Beni, itching to pull the trigger and end the worthless lump before her.  
Evy suddenly stepped between the two parties, pressing down on first Isobelle's right arm and then Rick's.

"For goodness sake." She snapped, attempting to be the voice of reason. "If we're going to play nice we must learn to share." She looked meaningfully at Isobelle and Rick.  
Isobelle made the first move after that, putting both of her guns away and stepping back, followed swiftly by her brother, Jonathon and the other Americans.

Fifteen minutes later Isobelle found herself standing on an old plinth in between Evy and Rick, crow bar in hand as she slammed repeatedly at a crack in the ceiling of the old chamber they were standing in.  
Jonathon was on Rick's left also jamming his crow bar into the ceiling and Gad Hassan had gone missing somewhere along the way.

"According to these hieroglyphics, we should be right under the statue of Anubis." Evy grunted as she worked. "If I'm correct, we should come right up between his legs." She finally stopped and sat down breathlessly, followed closely by Jonathon while Isobelle and Rick continued to beat at the roof.

"And when those damn yanks go to sleep," Jonathon started to say and then paused eyeing Isobelle and Rick apologetically. "No offense." He then added and waited a moment for Isobelle and Rick to stop.

"None taken." Rick said after a moment.  
When Jonathon looked expectantly at Isobelle Rick waved him off. "She's Egyptian, not American." He explained before getting back to work.  
Jonathon nodded in understanding and continued.

"Well, we'll dig our way up and steal the book right out from under their noses." He finished with a triumphant laugh.

"You sure we'll be able to find the secret compartment?" Rick asked suddenly after several more moments of near silent working.  
Evy had clambered back to her feet and was working again; Jonathon however had lined up several stones and was swinging his crowbar at them, almost as if he were playing a game of golf.

"Certainly, provided those beastly American's haven't beaten us to it." Evy wheezed. "No offense."

"None taken." Rick again brushed it off again and finally sat down to rest.  
Isobelle continued working steadfastly ignoring the ache building in her muscular arms and back. Rick ignored her, turning his attention to Evy who was sitting down and trying to get her breath back.

"I wonder; where did our odorous friend get to?" Jonathon asked suddenly.

"Lost him on the way here." Isobelle answered. "He probably found some gold or jewellery that he decided he didn't want to share with anyone." She got down off the plinth, finally giving in to her aching muscles.  
"Personally I think we're better off without him." She sat at the base of the plinth on the other side of her brother and tilted her head back, allowing herself to rest after her furious exertion.  
After several moments she started watching Jonathon as he swung his crowbar at the rocks methodically and partially tuned into Evy's conversation with Rick.

"Let me get this straight." Rick demanded as if he was struggling with a concept but trying desperately to hide it. "They ripped out your guts and stuffed them into jars?"  
Isobelle smiled tiredly as she heard the disbelief in his tone.

"And then they'd remove your heart. Oh! And do you want to know how they would have removed your brain?" Evy said excitedly.  
Rick noticed Isobelle grimace in disgust before turning back to Evy. "They'd take a red hot poker, stick it up your nose, scramble things about a bit and then rip it all out through your nostrils." She said triumphantly, swinging a small hook she'd found lying on the ground in the air as if she were actually pulling someone's brain out.

"Ow, that would hurt." Rick said, his large calloused hand shooting involuntarily to his nose.

"It's called mummification Richard." Isobelle piped up. "You'll be dead when they do it." Rick turned to Jonathon with a worried look on his face.

"For the record, if I don't make it out of here, don't put me down for mummification." Isobelle smiled at her brother's reaction to how the Egyptians prepared their dead for entering the afterlife.

"Likewise." Jonathon's word was no sooner out of his mouth than he'd slapped the stone Isobelle thrown for him to hit and knocked it into the wall.  
With a loud crash a huge sarcophagus fell from the ceiling and landed in front of Rick and Evy. Isobelle had thrown herself as far from the sound as possible and just looked at the ancient coffin in shock.

"Oh my god..." Evy whispered in surprised shock herself. "It's, well, it's a sarcophagus." She looked up at the hole in the roof almost curiously.

"Buried at the base of Anubis." Isobelle completed as she slowly picked herself up off the sandy floor of the room the dust was clearing slowly as she started to walk towards it, followed by her and Evelyn's brothers.  
The four of them congregated around the huge box and Evy looked at it curiously.  
Jonathon looked at Isobelle in admiration.

"How hard were you hitting the roof?" He asked her met by her silent shrug as she looked at the sarcophagus with the same fascination Evelyn was showing.

"He must have been someone of great importance." Evy mused out loud as she inspected the hieroglyphics on the lid. "Or he did something very naughty."

"Who is it?" Isobelle urged Evy and glancing at her friend of a few days.

"He who shall not be named." Isobelle felt as crestfallen as Evy looked.  
To her surprise she'd actually become as enthused by the thought of finding anything as the librarian on the other side of the huge sarcophagus.

"Hey, look at this." Rick beckoned Evy closer a curious frown on his face as he examined a star shaped indentation in the large coffin.

"It looks like a lock." Isobelle whispered as she reached out and traced the edges of it thoughtfully with the pads of her slender fingertips.

"Well, whoever he is, he certainly wasn't getting out." Jonathon observed unhappily.

"No kidding." Rick replied contumeliously. "It'll take a month to crack this thing without a key." Isobelle caught a movement in her periphery and she saw Evy shoot away from the sarcophagus, muttering about a key.  
She took a small hexagonal puzzle box out of Jonathon's discarded jacket pocket ignoring the pom's protest as she opened it and set it squarely in the lock.  
She looked triumphantly at the other three and was about to turn the lock when they heard a shriek of agony, followed by hysterical screaming.  
Jonathon scrambled to get away, in twin movements that announced they were indeed siblings, Rick and Isobelle had drawn their guns and Evy cringed, instinctively using the sarcophagus for cover as the warden, Gad Hassan raced through the chamber, his hands scrabbling at his clothes irrationally and ripping at non-existent hair.  
They watched in fascinated horror as Gad Hassan ran past them, screaming before he ran straight into a wall and expired before he even hit the floor.  
Isobelle put her guns away and swallowed nervously.

"What the hell was that about?" she asked of no one in particular.

"I have no idea." Rick responded just as shaken as Isobelle was by the unusual turn of events regarding the warden.


	4. Chapter 4 Battle among the dead

**Here's chapter four, let me know what you think. Personally i don't think i did as well as i could have but if i tried to edit it anymore i'd end up destroying it. =S hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think.**

Isobelle stared into the fire in a state of shock. She'd seen a lot of death in her young life, had even caused it since working for the British government but she'd never seen a death as disturbing and spectacular as the death of Warden Gad Hassan.  
Rick was over talking to the American party while Evy and Isobelle sat in silence, Evy concentrating on scribbling notes from the day's findings in her journal while Isobelle brooded.

"Seems the Americans had a little misfortune of their own today." Rick announced as he rejoined the silent women and a recently returned Jonathon. "Three of their diggers were uh, melted." He said and tried to force a chuckle that fell so flat that he even noticed it.  
Isobelle didn't react to her brother's announcement.  
He sat down beside her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You've seen worse Bells." He said so only she could hear him. "I know you have."

"No I haven't Rick." Isobelle whispered squeezing her eyes shut only to open them again when she saw him run across her eyelids screaming in agony again.  
"I've seen some very horrific things, caused them, even been the victim of them, but I have never seen something that could even come close to possibly being worse than that." She felt Rick freeze beside her but he let it go, his hand sliding from her shoulder.

"Melted?" Evy asked suddenly, her head rose curiously.  
Isobelle frowned as she finally registered what her brother had said about the Americans.

"How?" Jonathon's demand was made directly on the heels of his little sister's words.

"Salt Acid." Rick responded macabrely. "Pressurized salt acid, it was some kind of ancient booby trap." Isobelle shivered at her brother's words.

"Maybe this place really _is_ cursed." Jonathon murmured, his ominous words punctuated by a sudden powerful gust of wind. Isobelle looked around warily, sensing something stirring in the city.  
Something, sinister.

"For goodness sake you three." Evy suddenly snapped; breaking the trance Isobelle had just been trapped in.

"You don't believe in curses?" Rick looked in askance at Evelyn as Isobelle shivered, still feeling something not right surrounding her.

"No I don't." Evy stated firmly, as if she could put an end to the conversation that way. "I believe if I can see it and I can touch it its real. That's what I believe." With a sharp nod she decided it was over and Isobelle managed a faint smile.

"I believe in being prepared." Rick threw in his ten cents as he snapped his shot gun closed with a quick jerk.

"Let's see what our good friend the warden believed in." Jonathon articulated to the others as he fished around in the acquisitive man's bag.  
Isobelle picked up her shotgun and carefully cleaned it, taking comfort in the familiar motions;  
Jonathon let out a startled yell and jerked his hand out of the bag he was holding. Rick swung his gun around and Isobelle picked up the knife at her side.  
Evy shot away from them all several feet. "A broken bottle." Jonathon muttered pulling the offending item out of the tattered bag.  
He read the label out loud for all of them. "Glenlivet, twelve years old." He sounded as impressed as Isobelle herself was.  
The mirrored streaks of ebony over her dark eyes rose to the shock of untamed curls that made up her hairline. "He may have been a stinky fellow," Jonathon remarked.

"Putrid."Isobelle agreed.

"But he certainly had surprisingly good taste." The British gentleman finished, uncorking the bottle and taking a generous swallow before handing the bottle to Isobelle who held her hand out patiently for it.  
There was a commotion at the other camp as she started to raise the bottle to her lips. She and Rick both picked up their weapons, Rick reaching for his shotgun and Isobelle reaching for her wakizashi and lurching to her feet in a movement that seemed somehow graceful.

"Stay here." He ordered the two women as he dashed from their campsite towards the commotion.

"The hell I will." Isobelle snarled. "Evelyn, hide in the temple. If they're not me Rick or Jonathon then shoot them." She commanded tersely, shoving the rifle at the librarian and racing after her brother.  
Jonathon snatched up the bottle and a gun and ran for cover on the edge of the fight.  
Bullets flew every which way as black robed desert riders and diggers battled it out when Isobelle leapt fearlessly into the fray, firing her hand gun at anyone wearing black and cutting down the men on foot who tried to attack her.  
Rick watched in horror as his younger sister took on a man on horseback in sword combat.  
When he could see the disadvantage she was at he tried to fight his way over to her but then she pulled him off with one small hand and met his gaze fiercely.  
Isobelle's world narrowed to the movements of the rider, while at the same time flaring out to take in all that was going on around her.  
She parried the first strike of his khopesh with her wakizashi and struck out in the same movement. Giving the robed man no recourse but to dodge her blow.

When he struck again she simply knocked it away and shot in close, attempting to stab him but he shoved her away and pulled a rifle out of his robes, preparing to shoot her but he dropped suddenly, his limp body striking the sand with a muffled thump, the small circle and thin crimson trickle on his left temple giving testimony to how he had died.

Isobelle met Rick's furious gaze before moving to her next opponent.  
The next one swung his own khopesh at her head and she swung herself under it, the blade swinging a hair's breadth over her nose.  
She slid through the sand, twisting into a crouch as she did, pulling a hidden dagger out of her boot and swinging her sword up into a block at the same time, meeting the harsh blow of her assailant easily and driving her knife up in an attempt to gut the man attacking her, he dove back and she jumped to her feet, trying to move away from him in the same move, anticipating every motion of his before he made them and timing her strikes carefully.

It was a chance strike of her opponent's that had her sword skittering out of her hand. She watched with wide eyed fascination as he advanced on her, khopesh held ready.

Isobelle's eyes darted to the wakizashi where it had landed too far for her to make a safe enough dash for it, then her gaze alighted on a much closer khopesh that she realised she could get to, if she could get under the sword of the warrior advancing on her.

"Allah preserve me." She muttered as she dashed forward, ducking under the weapon that had been levelled at her heart moments before, snatching the weapon up and twisting to face the man, the weapon in her hand ready, her stance that of an experienced fighter.  
He turned, surprise in his dark eyes as he saw her standing there holding the weapon lightly.  
She swung the weapon on an impulse, cutting a graceful figure eight around her narrow frame before lashing out at the man, their weapons came together in a clamorous clash of steel and it was on.

They fought, each anticipating each other's movements in a graceful dance of swordplay and Rick watched in fascination as he saw the lithe movements as his sister met each blow.  
He noticed a certain glow about her that he had not noticed before.  
There seemed to be a lull in the battle surrounding the pair as they fought everyone stopping to watch in enraptured fascination, the imposing desert warrior and the small Egyptian woman exchange blows.

Finally, the man's greater strength proved to be Isobelle's undoing when she failed to block a strike and she felt the sharp bite of her opponent's khopesh slice shallowly into her neck.

It was then that Rick dived forward, lighting a stick of dynamite and jumping in front of her, brandishing it the way he would a knife.

Isobelle noticed then that the other man's mask had slipped during their fight, revealing the handsome tattooed face of a very familiar Arabic warrior.  
She drank in his sharp features, the angled planes of his face and the dark, compelling eyes of the man she had confided with in her dreams, right down to his neatly trimmed goatee.

"Enough, Yalla!" he called loudly in a deep rich voice that was more vibrant than her dreams could have ever conjured for him. "We will shed no more blood." He eyed Isobelle, his expression unreadable as he spoke.  
Isobelle was dimly aware of the warm trickle of blood seeking the collar of her shirt but she ignored it, breathing heavily. "But you _must_ leave. Leave this place or die." Isobelle felt the warning in his words seep into her soul. "You have one day." He called to them all and turned to remount his horse.

"Are you alright Isobelle?" Rick threw over his shoulder at his sister as he watched the riders gather their horses and prepare to leave.  
"Yalla imshi!" The warrior ordered his other riders as he turned his horse to the boundary of the city.

"I'm fine Richard." Isobelle finally answered shakily watching her brother defuse the stick of dynamite and throwing it away in disgust. "I admit I was caught off guard by that last strike before you stepped in." She said stiffly, falling back on her old standby of rigid formality when she felt she needed to prove herself. Rick said nothing, grasping her by her upper arm and dragging her to their fire.  
Isobelle let him, knowing her brother would be worried about the cut on her neck.

"SEE, THAT PROVES IT!" The Daniels man exclaimed loudly after several confused moments. "Seti's fortune has got to be under this sand." Rick shook his head doubtfully and opened his mouth to say something being cut off by the bespectacled man, Burns.

"For them to protect this place like that you know there's treasure down there."

"No, these men are desert people." Rick said calmly as he turned his attention to the cut on his sister's neck.

"They value water not gold." Isobelle elaborated as her brother wiped at the cut with a cloth and examined it closely.

"You're lucky Asha, it doesn't need stitching. I'll cover it with a bandage to try to avoid infection." Rick told her as he reached for a bottle of antiseptic.  
"This will sting." He rubbed the burning liquid into her neck as quickly as he could, watching Isobelle closely, surprise lighting in his blue eyes when she didn't react.

"You, you know maybe we should uh, well, maybe, just at night of course, we should ah, combine forces?" Burns suggested nervously, looking to Rick for direction.  
Rick looked like he was about to answer but Isobelle beat him.

"No. You and your party may stay if you wish Mr. Burns." She said firmly. "But we leave in the morning." Rick looked at her as she made the plans for their group without preamble. She returned his look and he flinched at the force in her bleak gaze.  
Looking down he finished cleaning the cut and then wrapped a pristine white bandage around it, a red splotch staining the fabric as he deftly wrapped it around her neck firmly enough that it wouldn't move but loosely enough that she would not choke.

"Evelyn, Jonathon, anything you did not have with you when you arrived here stays here." Isobelle commanded them, her tone brooking no arguments from the for once subdued English man.  
Evy however had other ideas.

"Wait just a minute Isobelle!" The librarian said in an outraged tone of voice. "I came here to collect artefacts to add to the Cairo museum of antiquities.  
"I am not leaving without anything to give to Dr Bey." Isobelle stood up and marched towards the woman who shrank back from the expression on the smaller woman's face.

"Evelyn Carnahan, so help me if you bring so much as a shard of pottery back from this place I _Will_ Make certain you regret it." Isobelle snapped in a cold hard voice shutting the woman up.  
"We return to Cairo in the morning. Get some sleep." She then turned on her heel and marched away from the camp, wandering around the city aimlessly.


	5. Chapter 5 Imhotep's awakening

**I've just been sitting on this one for a few days. Finished editing it and figured you'd all like to see it. It's sad really that I'd started editing this one before chapter four. Anyway, enjoy, let me know what you think. =D**

Isobelle and Evy stood back as Rick and Jonathon pulled the sarcophagus upright. With an excited clap Evy grinned and looked at Isobelle happily.

"I've dreamed of this since I was a little girl!" she exclaimed, reminding Isobelle of a young child at Christmas.

"You dream about dead guys?" Isobelle asked with a frown as Evy walked over to the now standing Sarcophagus.

"His sacred spells have been chiselled off." Evy frowned as she took note of this feature and Isobelle's sceptical mood plummeted when she heard this, to be replaced with an increased sense of dread.

"Tough break." Rick commented. Wordlessly Isobelle backed up a few steps, preparing to bolt for some unknown reason that she herself could not have explained for the life of her.

"Yes, well, I'm all tears." Jonathon said snidely, waving a hand in the general direction of the hefty ancient Egyptian coffin. "But I really think we should get this baby open. You know; take a peek at who's inside." He stepped back to allow Evy up to the coffin.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Isobelle called out, unable to contain herself any longer.

"It's not like he can come back to life Asha." Rick teased her before turning back to watch as Evy inserted the key into the Sarcophagus.  
Isobelle took another step back, all her muscles tensing and she half turned, getting ready to fly from the chamber.

With a great heave the two older brothers pulled the lid free and the corpse seemed to leap out at the four people in the subterranean chamber.  
Evelyn shrieked and Isobelle skittered towards the entrance of the sandy, dusty room, making a small sound of alarm in the back of her throat.  
The two men in the room leapt back with twin yells of alarm, Rick pointing his gun at the corpse. Isobelle stared at the mummy, her eyes fixed on it.  
Without knowing why she did it she murmured a single name.

"Imhotep." She whispered as she walked forward, fascinated with the body that had leapt out at them so suddenly.

"Oh my goodness." Evelyn said, breaking the spell almost irately. "I hate it when they do that." Isobelle walked towards it, not knowing why she was so fascinated with the body before her.

"Is it supposed to look like that?" Rick asked, the sound of his voice reached Isobelle from a distance, but she was not entirely there.

She could feel cool sandstone floors beneath her bare feet and smell burning incense, the sweet smell was overpowering.  
In her ears was the faint ring of a thousand voices chanting and she felt the cool twilight of an Egyptian night caress her delicate flesh.  
A hand slapped down on her shoulder and she jumped violently, spinning to face her brother, noticing the stares of the others.  
Rick frowned at her and gave her a squeeze on her shoulder, accompanied by a look that said 'later.' "Evy?" he asked her again.

"No, he's not supposed to look like that." Evelyn responded thoughtfully. "I've never seen a mummy look like this one does before." Isobelle looked up at it and wondered why she was so fascinated by a corpse that was supposed to be over three thousand years old. "He's still, still," Evy struggled to find the right word but Rick and Jonathon found it for her.

"Juicy." The two men said in concordance.

"y-yes, he must be more than three thousand years old," Evy stated quietly. "But it looks as if he's still decomposing." The librarian stated macabrely.  
Rick and Isobelle both looked down at the same time at the lid, both trying to find somewhere else to look.

"Look at this." Isobelle called up as she knelt beside the lid, noticing the marks in the rounded structure.  
Her eyes captured by the five long finger marks that ran parallel to each other straight down, and below them were a series of smaller marks that looked as if they formed words.

"My god." Evelyn hissed, looking at the marks before reaching in and lining the marks up with her own hand. "These marks were made with fingernails."

"He was buried alive." Isobelle completed for the woman and their eyes met, black to warm brown.  
The younger woman then turned her attention back to the inside of the lid. "It looks like he left a message." She said, pointing out the little hieroglyphic symbols.  
"Can you tell us what it says?" she looked at the woman but she already had a terrible feeling she knew.  
Evelyn looked at the words and after a moment, in a hushed voice she read the script out loud, translating it into English.

"Death is only the beginning." Isobelle suddenly felt cold, and she staggered to her feet, stumbling out of the chamber, making a beeline for the surface of the deserted city.

With a gasp of agony Isobelle staggered away from the ruins and further into the desert night, illuminated by the cold stare of the benevolent moon.  
She made it part way around the first dune before she dropped to her hands and knees and forced the leprechaun from his hiding place in her womb.  
She barely registered the green and white flash of light as he appeared before her, a degenerate clay pipe held negligently to his chapped lips.  
She glared furiously at the little man as she struggled to regain enough composure that she could hide just how much agony she was in.

"What the hell did you do?" She demanded after several minutes of painful gasping. "Drop a match in there?" he shrugged nonchalantly and continued smoking the pipe and Isobelle briefly wondered what it was doing outside a museum. "You knew what lighting it would do."  
She accused when the thought occurred to her, her normally rich bell tone voice a low growl.

"Ye didna lemme outta yer womb when I let ye kno' I was ready ter be gettin' out." He defended himself finally, his Irish accent thickening with frustration. "This was t'e onla way I could think o' te ge' ye te lemme ou'." Isobelle simply growled at the pint-sized man in the back of her throat.  
"Now, lass, don' be gettin' all pe'ish a' me." He waved the pipe at her sternly. "Ye were the one who wouldna lemme outta tha' there belly o' yers until I dropped tha' match. I did pick i' up for ye though."  
He fished the used match out of his pocket and showed her.

"Kicking me would have done the same job." She snapped before rolling onto her back. \

"Lift yer shirt then lass, I'll fix the damage for ye." He said, dropping the match onto the sand and walking over to her.  
She eyed him warily but did as he bade her, watching him warily as he tapped her stomach just below her navel.  
She couldn't help it when she started writhing as she felt her womb shift and hank, an almost unbearable heat build behind her belly button, her uterus repairing itself.

Several minutes later she finally felt the warping stop and her body went back to its customary temperature. "There now, tha' should do it." he announced happily as Isobelle sat up, and then she spotted the desert man, the one who looked so familiar to her.  
He was watching in amazement and she glanced at the leprechaun in alarm, he stood stock still for a split second, and then something dark rose up in Isobelle's periphery, she turned to look at it and almost screamed as she scrambled to her feet.

The dark wave of millions of insects, rising over the horizon was a terrifying and awesome sight to behold.  
Isobelle didn't spare a second thought for it as she bolted for the nearest entrance to the subterranean temple, the leprechaun, who in his terror had forgotten to keep his mind firmly separated from hers, hot on her heels.  
Isobelle did him the favour, but not before she accidentally learned his name, Seamus Breathnach.

Ardeth cursed when he saw the wave of insects, trusting his men to find cover and try to get everyone out of the city safely he ran after the woman and the strange little man, following the Arab woman and the little red haired man into the tunnels.  
As he ran he struggled to remember where he had seen the woman before. In his frustration he failed to notice two of his men catching up with him.

"_You do know what this means don't you?"_ Mohammed, his young cousin asked grimly as they made it to the submerged temple that Ardeth had seen the woman and her companion disappear into moments before.

"_The creature has been awakened."_ Ardeth answered shortly. _"It must be destroyed before it can regenerate, but first we have no choice, we must get these foolish people out of here."_ Mohammed and Akil both nodded as they all ran further into the tunnels.  
Akil, like Ardeth had still not taken a wife, which at twenty eight years of age was unusual.

"_Did you see that little man appear from the woman's body?"_ Mohammed asked curiously as they raced, following the footprints of the two intruders, covering the sandy floor of the tunnel. "_Maybe they had something to do with it?"_ Ardeth shook his head, dismissing the idea immediately.

"_This is not the first time one of his kind has come here."_ Ardeth told his cousin tersely. _"It was not this thing, whatever it is, that awoke the creature."_ Mohammed nodded.

Isobelle and Seamus practically flew down the tunnels from the black robed men that had followed them into the tunnels when the pair had fled from the gargantuan swarm of locusts that had descended on Hamunaptra in a great convolving, black wave of adamantine bodies.  
Ahead of them they saw a mummy picking itself up of the ground and they skidded to a stop.  
Isobelle with wide eyes and Seamus going green.

Barely, Isobelle was aware of one of the Americans huddled against one wall of the tunnel, mewling pitifully; she would have looked to see who it was but she was too terrified of the creature to look at the wretched man behind it.

"Tell ye wha' lass." The leprechaun managed after what felt like several minutes of terrified silence. "You organise passage for me outta here, and I'll remove all o' them shamrocks on yer wrist." He said, holding a hand up for her to shake.  
The mummy turned its eyes on them and Isobelle went cold.  
She could have sworn when they opened the sarcophagus almost an hour before hand that the mummy'd had no eyes.  
It looked at her and said something to her; instinctively she bowed her head and then forced herself to meet its gaze fiercely, barely hiding how scared she was of it.

"Deal, let's go." She finally squeaked and without preamble they turned and ran back the way they had come.  
They turned to go down another tunnel when they saw the black robed man who had been watching them outside the city accompanied by two more dressed like him only to be confronted by five more men.  
They turned to go back towards the mummy when the one who had been watching them leapt forward and firmly shackled her dainty wrist with one calloused hand.  
Isobelle looked at him and panic set in.  
She lashed out, fear making her movements jerky and uncouth, doing nothing to cause him to lose his iron grip on her fragile wrist.

"_Calm yourself."_ He snapped at her in Arabic. _"Neither I nor my men are your enemies."_ Isobelle froze, trembling violently, fear written plainly across her ethereal features. _"You will stay here with two of my men while I and the others search the rest of the tunnels for anyone else."_ Isobelle stood there trembling while Seamus waited for her to decide on a course of action.  
When the man let go of her she bolted again more scared of the men than the walking corpse that waited down at the end of the tunnel she and Seamus pelted down blindly.

It didn't take long for the desert man to catch up with her again, this time catching her around the waist and lifting her easily. Isobelle began raining blows upon his head and shoulders, squirming desperately, begging him to let her go.  
Seamus had shot down the tunnel that they had turned to when they saw the three Medjai shooting between their legs and leaving Isobelle to her fate.  
With a quick merciless jerk the desert man stopped her movements, but not her pleading.

"I am going to put you on your feet." He said slowly after several minutes. "Do not run again." Isobelle nodded eagerly, terror finally holding her throat closed.  
When her feet touched the ground she sprang away from him but otherwise made no movement to flee.  
"We must get out of here." He said then as the rest of his men came up the tunnel, two of them holding a wretched looking Mr. Burns between them.  
Isobelle nodded, fainting when the men closed ranks around her.

Ardeth was amazed that a woman who had fought him so expertly and fearlessly was suddenly terrified enough to lose consciousness.

"_She must have encountered the creature."_ Akil stated, looking at her unconscious form as Ardeth knelt over her long enough to pick her up. Ardeth shook his head.

"_That does not explain why she was so afraid of me."_ Ardeth said softly as he lurched to his feet. _"This reaction was something else. Do not ask me what it was for I know not."_ Ardeth finally managed to gain his feet without dropping the woman when one of his men hissed and pointed at him.  
It took Ardeth a moment to realise that it was the woman Altair was pointing at.

"_She bears the sacred mark of the Medjai."_ The warrior stated as he lifted her bare wrist to show the small, perfectly formed tattoo, the mark of the Medjai.  
He took in the mark with disbelief.  
It was truly the mark, the eye, the pyramid and the two kings on either side of it perfectly imprinted on the inside of her frangible wrist.

"_She will come with us."_ Ardeth decided then. _"come."_ They stalked out of the tunnel as a unit, carrying the woman and the woeful victim of the creature to the exit of the tunnels.

Isobelle stirred as the cool air of the Egyptian night kissed her softly, she became aware of being carried by a man and she jerked violently.  
The desert man put her on her feet.

"You are quite an unusual woman." He noted as she skittered out of his reach.

"Just leave me alone. I appreciate you getting me out of there." She said coldly. "But now I feel I would be safest with my brother and his party."  
She turned on her heel and started to walk away; attempting to gather her pride to her and hold onto the fear that strangely had not been there when the desert man had held onto her.  
The way she reacted had been more of a reflex than anything else.

"If I were to say to you; I am a stranger travelling from the east, seeking that which is lost..." Isobelle heard what he was looking for and without thinking she responded, the words flowing from her tongue easily, instinctively.

"Then I would reply; I am a stranger travelling from the west. It is I whom you seek." She realised her mistake when she saw the triumphant gleam in the eyes of the black robed tribesman.

"You bear the sacred mark of the Medjai; you cannot go with those people." He said to her then.  
Isobelle straightened perceptibly, a defiant gleam lighting her black eyes from within.

"Watch me." She challenged as her brother and the others rounded the corner, followed by Seamus at the back of the group. Isobelle darted behind her brother, ignoring the censuring look he gave her.  
The leader of the warriors the, man who wanted Isobelle to go with them walked forward

"I told you to leave this place or die." He informed the others. "You refused, now you may have killed us all; for you have unleashed the creature that we have feared for more than three thousand years." Isobelle poked her head around her brother's shoulder and glared at the desert man.

"_If we're all dead then there's no point in dragging me back to your tribe then is there?"_ she snapped at him in fluent Arabic, causing his dark eyes to widen in surprise.  
Rick glanced over his shoulder at Isobelle, raising an eyebrow. "Later." She muttered so that only he would hear her.

"Relax, I got him." Rick informed the leader of the tribe that had tried to drive them out of the city.

"Are you sure Rick, I just saw that thing picking itself up off the ground." Rick just shoved her back with a hand on her lower stomach before saying;

"I just told you I got him." Isobelle shuddered as she remembered the creature walking up to her and speaking.  
Remembered her reaction to it and wondered why she would behave so submissively to an undead monster when she didn't even pay much heed to her own brother.

"No mortal weapon can kill this creature." The desert man added to what Isobelle had just told her brother. "He is not of this world."  
Isobelle looked at the desert man fearfully, hearing the man's words as they resonated deep within her soul of souls.  
The Americans cried out in shock as a barely conscious Burns was handed over to them by the two desert men that had been carrying him between them.

"You Bastards!" the man Isobelle recognised as Daniels yelled at the robed and tattooed warriors standing before the party.

"What did you do to him?" The Henderson man demanded of them.  
Isobelle piped herself as she realised in horror that it was Burns that she'd left to die in the tunnels.

"They saved him from that thing." She said shakily.

"Before the creature could finish his work." The leader of the Medjai added; black eyes met black eyes as he looked at her, something passed between the Medjai warrior and the small Egyptian woman and he nodded once. "Leave, all of you, quickly."  
He said after several minutes. "Before the creature destroys you all." He turned to his men. "YALLA IMSHI!" he ordered before turning to Isobelle again, his next words were heard clearly by the whole group, but Isobelle couldn't shake the feeling that he spoke only to her. "We must now go on the hunt and try to find a way to kill the creature."  
Isobelle nodded and found herself begging Allah that they would be successful in their endeavour.

"_May Allah protect you."_ Isobelle uttered on an inexplicable impulse.  
The man looked at her in surprise and she blushed, aware her brother was looking at her strangely.

"I already told you I got him." Rick then told the man as he walked past the American who hid the small Egyptian woman behind his back.

"Know this, this creature is the bringer of death."  
The Medjai warrior snapped glacially. "He will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop."  
Isobelle felt cold and desolate as one by one, all of the Medjai filed out of the city the feeling increasing as the one man who was not her brother had not terrified her by his touch followed his men out into the desert night.


	6. Chapter 6 Human sacrifice

**hey guys, here it is, let me know what you think. BD**

Ardeth swung easily into the saddle and looked down at the two people who stood beside the huge black horse.  
His mother, Adara, now an elderly woman who concentrated more on healing than fighting alongside her husband and sons and his second in command and younger brother, Abdullah.  
To his mother he said;

"_If I can I will bring the witch back."_ Adara Bay just shook her head at him and tapped his leg affectionately.

"_You just come home safely Ardeth Bay."_ Her words were stern, filled with a mother's love and concern. Ardeth nodded before turning to his brother, who looked almost exactly like the young leader of the tribe.

" _If I should not return I charge you to lead our tribe safely through these times."_ Abdullah nodded silently, knowing his brother wasn't going to say any more.  
Ardeth nodded to his mother, knowing full well that it could be the last time he ever saw her and kicked his horse into a gallop that would carry him swiftly to Cairo.

Isobelle closed her eyes and leaned her head back wearily as she and Rick sat down in her room at the fort. "I think he was talking about my birthmark Rick." She said quietly to the man that had done his best to raise her after she'd been thrown out onto the street and he'd opted to join her.  
Rick nodded silently.

"Why didn't you go with him?" Rick asked suddenly, Isobelle had told her brother everything, including why she'd come back to Egypt in the first place.

"What do you mean?" she asked him, not understanding entirely what her brother meant.

"I've known you your whole life and after the incident when you were fourteen I have never seen you be able to stand being around men, especially tribesmen unless you had known them long enough and even then you're skittish." Rick explained as she took a sip of the very welcome water she had poured for herself on arriving back at the crowded apartment Rick had managed to buy for them to share when he left the orphanage.  
It was a decrepit, constrained set of four rooms, a bathroom, a sitting room with an ill-equipped kitchenette and two cramped bedrooms.  
Isobelle looked around the room seeing the rickety old nightstand beside the door and the weapons rack Rick had built for her when she was eight.  
It still had her stave, the first weapon she had learned to use.  
Below that was her trunk, filled with her old clothes.

"You could have sold this place you know." She pointed out suddenly.

"I could have, but that's not what we're here to talk about Bells." Rick responded quietly. "If that man wanted you to go with him to his people I would have been happy to let you go with him back to his tribe." Isobelle looked away from him examining her hands dejectedly. "They could possibly explain the weird dreams you have." Rick tried to tempt her.

"What if they find out though Rick?" Isobelle suddenly looked at him. Rick sat back, examining the graceful lines of her face.  
A beam of golden sunlight had wound its way through the grimy window of Isobelle's room and illuminated her face, lighting her eyes and turning them a rich dark brown colour.  
"I couldn't bear it if they rejected me because of that." She added as a single crystal tear escaped, the liquid catching the sun and bathing the room in the small shards of a perfect rainbow.

"Then you'll always have me." He told her but she didn't look at him. "Think about it Bells. Let me know what you decide." He ruffled her hair as he rose from his spot on the edge of her old hard bed and made his way across the creaky floor boards to the thin, shabby door.  
When she was certain he was gone she slowly got up from the bed, knowing she would need answers that Rick could not provide for her.  
At the window she felt along the edge for the rusty file she kept hidden, with a quick, deft movement she picked it up and used it to prise loose the nails holding her window shut.  
Sliding the window carefully she wedged an old rock she'd found years ago for the purpose of holding the window open.  
With a quick search of her room she found her knife and an old khopesh that was now way too small for her.  
Tucking both into her clothes she slipped out of the window and down into the street, remembering at the last second not to roll for fear of having shards of broken glass slice into her delicate flesh.  
As she walked out of the alley with adept fingers she easily tied her hair into a simple washer-woman's knot at the back of her head.  
Aware of the looks of the children and teenagers surrounding her she walked with cold purpose towards the only other place she had ever felt safe.

Isobelle stalked into the Cairo museum of antiquities impatiently, knowing she wouldn't have long to talk to the man who had done so much to help Rick raise her.  
Following her gut she made her way to Seti I's exhibit and found her one time friend and mentor Terence Bey pacing restlessly.

"Terence." She said softly to the old man who looked up in alarm, looking wary when he saw Isobelle.

"I have not seen you in over five years." He said softly, staying where he was hurt shining in his brilliant eyes.  
Isobelle nodded to him, feeling her own hurt welling up as she looked at the man who had managed to tame a wretched street urchin. "How have you been Isobelle?" He asked her quietly.  
With a sob Isobelle flew at him, burrowing into the old man's arms and weeping uncontrollably, all the tears she had refused to shed for the last four years breaking over her in waves of anguish.

"I'm sorry." She sobbed into his chest as his arms closed securely around her narrow shoulders. "I'm so sorry."

"There is nothing to forgive Isobelle." He murmured soothingly as she cried.  
Terence saw his nephew, Ardeth walk into the room and freeze, his dark eyes widening when he saw Isobelle weeping inconsolably.  
The old curator gave the young warrior a look that told him to wait.

Ardeth nodded stiffly and disappeared around the corner.  
He recognised the woman who cried into his uncle's shoulder bitterly, she was one of the lost daughters of Osiris; and Terence was standing there holding her as if she were his woman.  
With a frustrated growl he resisted the urge to kick something.  
After several minutes of waiting and struggling not to think about his uncle holding the woman Ardeth was sure was supposed to be his wife, struggled not to let himself think the worst of the elderly man, Terence appeared and looked sternly at the young man.

"_She has had a hard life Ardeth, coming here gave her some small solace and a brief reprieve from just how hard it was when I knew her."_ Terence informed his nephew sternly. _"Isobelle has always been as a daughter to me where I had none."_ Ardeth bowed his head in shame.

"_Terence, please, I need to speak with you."_ The woman, Isobelle, poked her head through the open doorway, tear tracks marked her ivory cheeks and Ardeth could not help the urge to rend the one who had caused those tears.  
The old man nodded silently and glared at his nephew.  
Isobelle met Ardeth's gaze squarely and the young warrior suddenly felt glad his parents hadn't arranged a marriage for him unlike the parents of his friends.  
He could never be happy with a woman who followed him meekly.  
Terence disappeared with the young woman into the exhibit and Ardeth left them alone so they could speak, feeling the irrational jealousy drain from him as he saw they tender way his uncle had looked at the girl.

"After the incident Rick decided it would be best for me to leave Egypt altogether." Isobelle told the man who had helped her brother guide her in the right direction.

"It wasn't until six months afterward that you left though." Terence responded quietly, knowing his nephew was trying to listen in to the conversation.

"It took Rick that long to get me back to a semblance of normality." Isobelle whispered looking down at her dainty hands.

"You look exhausted Isobelle, have you been sleeping at all lately?" Terence pressed, fatherly concern lacing his tone.

"I've been sleeping better since I came back to Egypt, except at the moment with Imhotep up and about again." Isobelle said and her oldest friend recoiled in shock at her words.

"Where did you hear that name?" he demanded harshly just as Ardeth appeared around the corner a look of utter shock on his face as well.  
Isobelle frowned and thought about it for several moments before shaking her head.

"I have absolutely no idea where I heard it, I'm not even sure that I did." She admitted almost inaudibly. "It's like how I knew you were a part of something that is as old as the sands themselves Terence, even if I couldn't name it."  
Terence leaned back, looking troubled.

"Show him your wrist." Ardeth commanded her as he strode into the room.  
Isobelle frowned at him and Terence glanced between the two of them.

"What is my nephew talking about Isobelle?" the curator asked her and she wordlessly rolled the right sleeve of her shirt up to reveal the dark brown birthmark on the inside of her arm.  
Terence gasped and grabbed her arm, examining it closely.  
"How can I not have seen this before?" he demanded of her, seeing the exquisite detail.

"Inobservance perhaps?" the young woman suggested softly with a shrug of her narrow shoulders.

"When did you get it?" he looked up into her dark eyes, urgency written plainly across his wizened face.

"Rick thinks I was born with it." Isobelle said, gently pulling her arm out of the curator's grasp and unrolled her shirt sleeve, covering the mark again.

"You mean you have no idea?" Ardeth demanded of her.  
She shook her head, her dark hair choosing that moment to come loose and tumble down her back and shoulders in a mass of sable ringlets.  
She saw the young warriors' swift intake of breath and she quickly twisted it up, Terence handing her a pen to spear the swarthy mass with.  
She thanked him softly and turned to face Ardeth.

"What the _hell_ are you doing _here_ Isobelle Asha O'Connell?" Rick demanded of his younger sister when he saw her. "I thought I left you safely at the apartment."

"Asha?" Terence asked her and she shrugged as she met his gaze.

"I climbed out the window." She informed her brother as she did a mental head count. "Where is Burns?"

"Dead. I thought you would have grown up a bit since leaving Egypt five years ago." He accused of the young woman.

"Richard James O'Connell, I am a grown woman, I have been for quite some time now and I do not appreciate you ordering me around as if I were one of your precious soldiers." She said coldly.  
"In case you had not noticed we have more pressing issues at hand than whether or not I climbed out of my bedroom window." She finished her spiel and met the admiring gazes of Evelyn and the other men in the room, including that of Ardeth Bay.  
Isobelle settled down on the steps at Terence's feet with Ardeth standing to the right and a little back from her. The gravity of where she sat was not lost on her brother.

"Isobelle, you in particular should listen because this concerns you more than you could even hope to know." Terence said to the young woman.  
Isobelle nodded as she looked up at him.  
Rick saw the trusting look she gave the curator of the museum and smiled ruefully.  
Both men saw eye to eye on just how precious the young Egyptian woman was, and that was about all. "We are part of a secret society as old as the pharaohs."  
Terence started softly and Isobelle caught the note of weariness in his voice, with a glance at him she knew Ardeth was watching his uncle just as attentively as Isobelle was.  
"For over three thousand years we have guarded the city of the dead. We are sworn at manhood to do any and all in our power to stop the high priest Imhotep from being reborn into this world."  
Isobelle shivered as she thought about the implications of the old man's words.

"And now because of you we have failed." Ardeth added angrily. Isobelle looked down guiltily.

"I told you it was a bad idea to open that damn thing." She said to her friends and brother, her choice of words making both Rick and Terence flinch.

"And you think this justifies the killing of innocent people?" Evelyn asked outrage heard clearly in her husky voice.

"To stop this creature?" Terence asked acidly. "Let me think."

"Yes!" the two Medjai answered in conjunction.  
Rick chose that moment to pipe up and ask a question.

"Question;" He raised his hand with a look of genuine curiosity on his features. "Why doesn't he like cats?"

"Good question Rick." Isobelle supported him. "I think I can answer that." She pushed onto her feet and looked to Terence for guidance.  
He motioned her to continue and she did. "The Ancient Egyptians believed cats were the guardians of the underworld, given how Imhotep has been returned to life as well as every other strange thing I have been exposed to in my life I would have to say that it is entirely possible that cats are indeed and have always been the guardians of the underworld."  
Rick rolled his eyes at her, Evy, Ardeth, Jonathon, Henderson and Daniels all looked at her in askance.  
Terence just continued with his explanation, Isobelle knew why he didn't ask; where she was concerned he had a 'the less I know the better' policy.

"As Isobelle has just said in her length y explanation, cats _are_ the guardians of the underworld, and Imhotep will fear them until he is fully regenerated." Isobelle nodded to the old man with an exhausted smile.

"And then he will fear nothing." Ardeth added grimly, looking around at everyone, his sagacious gaze resting on Isobelle a fraction longer than everyone else.

"Yeah," Daniels demanded hysterically. "and you know how he gets himself fully regenerated?"

"By killing everyone who opened that chest." Henderson piped up, equally hysterical.

"AND SUCKIN'THEM DRY!" Daniels was almost crying. "That's how."

"Jonathon will you stop playing with that?" Evy snapped at her brother, whom at that moment had been toying with the bow that had been set up as part of the exhibit.  
He jumped and looked guiltily at his sister, bumping into a statue of Seti I. "When I saw him at Hamunaptra," Evy stammered, looking down and then up again. "He called me Anck-Su-Namun, and just now when I was in my quarters, he . . . he tried t-to kiss me."  
Isobelle glanced at her mentor at the same time he and Ardeth exchanged a look.

"It was because of his love for Anck-Su-Namun that he was cursed." Terence muttered thoughtfully. He looked at Ardeth who looked just as thoughtful. "Apparently, even after three thousand years..." The curator trailed off, looking at Evy.

"He's still in love with her." Ardeth finished, a faint note of disgust colouring his tone as he too looked at Evy.  
Isobelle was struggling to make the connections as she spoke out.

"What does that have to do with Evy?" At the same time Evelyn said;

"Well, that's all very romantic but what does that have to do with me?"

"Perhaps he will once again try to raise her from the dead?" Ardeth questioned the older man, who nodded his agreement before looking at the young librarian.

"It appears he has already chosen his human sacrifice."  
Isobelle looked sympathetically at her newfound friend.  
Evy looked taken aback and for a moment there was complete silence as everyone in the room silently took in the implications of the old man's words.

"Bad luck old mum." Jonathon finally put into words what everyone was too scared to say to her.

"On the contrary." Dr. Bey remarked emphatically, his mind working quickly. "It may just give us the time we need to kill the creature."  
Isobelle frowned at the old man opening her mouth to speak when she was cut off by Ardeth, who was staring up through the glass roof of the building.

"Good. Because we will need all the help we can get. His powers are growing." At the Medjai's words everyone else turned their gazes skyward.

"And he stretched forth his hand towards the heavens, and there was darkness throughout the land of Egypt." Isobelle and Jonathon both said in perfect synchronisation.


	7. Chapter 7 Patience isn't a virtue

**Hey guys, finished this one. also finally finished the entire draft and am now chopping it up into individual documents to make editing it easier. hopefully it'll be done soon. Only two more after this one. Enjoy. **

Isobelle was about to follow the others out when Terence called to her softly.  
Rick looked back at her and she wordlessly shrugged turning back to face her old mentor, the man who had kept her out of trouble while she was growing up.

"No matter what Isobelle, I want you to know I have always loved you as if you were my own daughter." Terence told her urgently as soon as Ardeth had left them on their own for a few minutes of privacy.

"Terence you're scaring me." Isobelle said as her enchantingly dark eyes widened.

"I implore you to go with Ardeth back to his tribe and learn to use your birthright." Terence took her small soft hands in his own larger, calloused palms, closing his fingers securely around her hands as he looked deep into her eyes, revealing the depth of his conviction that she should go to the Medjai.

"What aren't you telling me Terence?" Isobelle voiced, fear cracking her voice.  
He straightened suddenly and looked down at her with a sigh.

"I'm an old man Isobelle, I don't expect to live through this." He told her then a sad, weary look shadowing his beloved features. "If I do, then I will train you myself, but if not then I want you to go to the Medjai. Find Adara Bay and tell her I sent you."  
He let go of Isobelle's left hand and clasped his now free right hand over hers before whispering in Ancient Egyptian; **"My legacy to you, the girl I call my own."** Isobelle tugged her hands back as her birthmark twinged uncomfortably. **"I name you my heir."**_**  
**_Isobelle retreated at the same time Ardeth re-entered the room.  
He looked at his uncle in askance but the old man shook his head before saying to the young Medjai warrior in Arabic. _"What I have said to Isobelle is for her ears only."_  
Ardeth nodded but looked horribly worried as he saw the look of fear, mingling with admirable determination on the compelling young woman's face.

"Do you know how to use that?" Ardeth asked suddenly, indicating the too small khopesh strapped to Isobelle's left hip.  
She looked at him gratefully as she nodded.

"It's been a while but yes, I know how to use it." She informed him as she started to turn away from him he touched her shoulder and she flinched automatically, briefly catching the hurt glint in his dark eyes.

"Would you be willing to show me?" he asked, suddenly realising he wanted to know more about the tiny woman standing before him.  
She turned the thought over in her mind before nodding.

"Terence, is there somewhere Ardeth and I could go to spar?" Terence nodded and looked meaningfully at his nephew.

"You can use the yard outside." The older Medjai warrior informed the young pair. "Ardeth, you know you cannot be alone with her." Ardeth bowed his head quietly.

"Would you supervise us Terence?" Isobelle asked softly, taking a liberty with the fatherly man that she would never have dreamed of taking with her mother's relatives in speaking to Terence directly.  
The old curator nodded his assent and followed the two out to the stable yard.

Ardeth turned to face her, standing a short distance away from her, his khopesh already drawn and held at the ready. Isobelle took up a ready stance in front of him, standing side on to make a smaller target, her khopesh pointed easily at the ground as she watched the Medjai warrior respectfully.

"**Begin."** Ardeth announced suddenly and Isobelle swung her sword, flawlessly blocking Ardeth's strike to her neck, pushing it away with a steely shiver.  
He nodded to her and she returned the gesture, neither breaking eye contact.  
Ardeth struck again and she parried the blow, countering in one swift graceful move, stepping forward boldly, forcing the tall, darkly handsome warrior back when she struck again; not bothering to slow it down for him to get an idea of what she was doing.  
She was aware of her old mentor watching and she fought harder, trying to do the old man proud, striking three separate times and overall, keeping Ardeth on his toes.

When Ardeth realised what she was doing he started putting more behind his strikes, working the small woman a little more and beginning to gain ground on her, forcing her to step back first one tiny shuffle.  
Her retreats getting steadily bigger until they were standing back in the centre of the yard, locked in combat, the steely ring of their weapons clashing.  
Isobelle started shaking with the exertion and her movements became more clumsy when he stepped back, throwing his khopesh aside wordlessly.

"Shukran." She huffed, dropping her own weapon with a clatter and sinking to her knee on the dusty ground and leaning forward as she struggled to get her breath back, sweat poured freely down her small, perfectly sculpted face.  
After several minutes of deep breathing she was able to look up at the Medjai warrior in outrage. "YOU PULLED BACK!" she yelled angrily when she realised he wasn't anywhere near as exhausted as she was.  
He looked startled, as did Terence when she yelled at Ardeth in genuine outrage.

"Of course I pulled back." Ardeth said after a minute of stunned silence. "I harbour no desire to cause harm to you." Isobelle glared at him angrily before stalking off in a royal snit.  
Terence walked over to his bewildered nephew amusement twinkling in the old man's dark eyes.

"Should have pretended to have exerted yourself Ardeth; that's what I did." Ardeth looked in amazement at his uncle as the old man made that admission.

"That would have been dishonest of me." Ardeth objected, not understanding.  
Terence shrugged as he started to walk away.

"She objects less if she thinks she was able to at least keep you on your toes." Terence explained.

"She did though." Ardeth said with a confused frown.

"Isobelle O'Connell is a completely different kind of woman to what you grew up around Ardeth." Terence said when the younger man caught up with him. "She insists on accomplishing what she sets out to do.  
"I can guarantee you she'll set to the task of becoming strong enough to at least match you now."

"Lemaathaa?" The young man asked with a frown. "she is already a good fighter." Terence shook his head as he picked up the too small khopesh.

"In her mind she'll never be good enough if she can't at least match the best opponent she comes across, and as far as I'm aware, to date that's you."  
Ardeth couldn't help the swell of pride at what he was sure was unintended praise from his usually distant uncle.  
Ardeth rushed after Isobelle suddenly, leaving his uncle alone to continue walking inside the huge building.

Isobelle stormed down one corridor, not really paying attention to where she was going when she bumped into her brother who had just walked back into the building, followed by Daniels.  
Ardeth soon joined them and shortly after, Dr. Bey.

"We'll talk later Asha." Rick shoved his sister behind him and turned to glare at the warrior.

"Isobelle, your sword is too small for you now, I think; however, that this will fit you better." Terence held out a slightly larger khopesh, hilt first to Isobelle who hefted the weapon, testing the weight before she stepped around her brother for more room to move, swinging the weapon experimentally, testing the balance of the weapon and smiled at Terence.

"Shukran." She murmured as she sheathed it.

"Isobelle I-" The others watched in fascination as the small woman turned her back on the black clad warrior abruptly, walking over to a stunned Evelyn and hugged her warmly.

"Did you have any luck?" Isobelle asked her brother, waiting for someone to answer.

"Only bad." Rick said sourly.  
"We didn't get anywhere near the Egyptologist until after Imhotep sucked the life out of him, then the bastard got hold of Henderson, sucked him dry in front of us."  
Isobelle swallowed heavily, making a slightly disgusted face.

"No one deserves that." She scowled. "Has anyone figured anything out that could help us?"  
Evy piped up happily then.

"According to legend the black book of the dead, the one that the Americans found at Hamunaptra, is supposed to bring people back from the dead. Until now it was a notion I was unwilling to believe."  
The librarian led everyone up the stairs as she spoke, her mind clearly working at a million miles an hour.

"Believe it sister." Rick muttered acidly.

"It's what brought our buddy back to life." Isobelle added just as mordantly.

"Yes, well, I'm thinking that if the black book can bring people back to life..." Evy trailed off as they hastened up to the landing on the second floor.

"Then maybe the gold book can kill him." Isobelle and Rick both finished for her.

"That's the myth." The bookish young woman agreed with the siblings. "Now we just have to find where the gold book is buried." She muttered irritably.  
There was chanting as they basically ran up the stairs and the entire group looked over the balustrade and down through the glass front of the museum.  
Thousands of men converged on the building, mindlessly chanting the creature's name, all of the men were covered in pustulent lesions;  
Isobelle gagged when she saw them, catching Ardeth's swift glance at her before turning back to watch in horrified fascination as the grotesque, zombie-like slaves lurched closer to the building, her attention fixed nearly obliviously on a now almost fully regenerated High Priest Imhotep.

She could smell the sickly sweet smell of incense mingled with the more alluring desert, cool sandstone caressed the soles of her small, bare feet, and a soft breeze tickled her skin.  
All around her everything she could see took on a crystalline quality as she stared helplessly down at Imhotep.

"Last, but not least," Jonathon spoke up, breaking the spell Isobelle was trapped in. "My favourite plague: Boils and sores." Isobelle shuddered, aware of Terence watching her closely.

"They have become his slaves." Isobelle whispered in horror, looking down over the general body of mindless drones, studiously avoiding looking at Imhotep.

"So it has begun." Ardeth added grimly. "The beginning of the end."  
Isobelle looked at Ardeth seriously, finally meeting his gaze after their sparring match that afternoon.

"Not yet it hasn't." Evy snapped urgently, turning and continuing up the stairs. "Come on." Rick looked at Isobelle, shrugged and followed Evy, and soon everyone was on the move again.  
Terence tapped Isobelle on the shoulder and fell back a short way, Ardeth keeping pace with the pair he listened to the two of them.

"_The creature aimed that magic at you specifically Isobelle."_ Terence hissed in Arabic urgently. _"Do you have any idea why that would be the case?"_  
Isobelle shook her head in completely unfeigned confusion and fear.

"_Maybe he decided to use me as his sacrifice instead of Evy?"_ she suggested helplessly.  
She was aware of Ardeth stiffening beside her.

"_Why would he change his mind though?"_ Terence mused thoughtfully.

"_I'm younger than Evy, maybe he wanted to be sure that his sacrifice would be healthier and decided I fit the bill?"_ Ardeth suddenly shook his head.

"_That cannot be it."_ The warrior snapped vehemently and Isobelle and Terence both looked at him in shock. _"Everything I have ever heard or read about him indicates a single-mindedness in everything he does."_ The tattooed man elaborated uncomfortably.  
Terence seemed to accept this explanation but Isobelle eyed the young warrior thoughtfully.

"According to the Bembridge scholars, the golden book of Amun-Ra is located inside the statue of Anubis." Evy was saying to the others when the trio caught up with them.

"That's where we found the black book." Daniels pointed out.

"Exactly." Evy stated, stopping at the Rosetta stone and stooping to read from it.

"Well, I guess the old boys at Bembridge were mistaken." Jonathon remarked dryly.

"Indeed." Isobelle chimed in. "They mixed up the books, where they were buried." Evy turned long enough to nod at the eighteen year old.

"So if the black book was inside of Anubis..." Evy mused out loud.

"Which it was." Isobelle pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Then the golden book must be..." Evy trailed off, falling into silence as she tried to read.  
There was a loud bang on the first floor and Daniels, Rick, Ardeth, Terence, Isobelle and Jonathon all looked down to see the slaves of Imhotep swarm into the museum like a great tsunami of boil covered humans.  
Jonathon and Isobelle turned to look at Evy with worried expressions on their faces.

"Come on Evy faster." Jonathon urged his sister nervously.

"Patience is a virtue." Evy quipped in a sing-song voice as she continued to read.

"Not right now it isn't." Rick informed her as he turned to face the tablet the librarian was currently bending in front of. Jonathon started moving away from them slowly.

"I think I'll go get the car started." He muttered as he then turned and ran off into the museum.  
Evy continued reading, muttering out loud as she did.

"If they got the places where the books were buried mixed up wouldn't it make sense for the golden book to be where the black book was supposed to be?" Isobelle asked suddenly as Evy yelled out happily.

"I've got it!" Isobelle looked at her friend with a wry look. "The golden book is buried beneath the statue of Horus. Take that Bembridge scholars!" Isobelle couldn't help chuckling at her friend as they started to run after Jonathon.

"Great, we know where it is, let's go." Rick announced as they ran. Isobelle kept pace with Terence, gun drawn, half turning to keep track of where the slaves were.

"Let's go!" Daniels whooped as Jonathon pulled up in front of them and everyone piled in.  
Isobelle paused before getting in and looked into the car nervously. "Get this thing in gear boy." The American demanded, Rick half dived out of the car and grabbed his sister, dragging her into the car and then shoving her into the back seat between Ardeth and Terence as Jonathon stepped on the gas.

"Imhotep! Imhotep!" Isobelle looked at Beni Gabor as he stood pointing in their direction and calling his master, a cold rage dramatically sweeping over her.  
She twisted, pointing her gun squarely at the cur already lining up a kill shot.  
Jonathon hit a bump as she pulled the trigger and she missed him by a scant inch.

"Damn, I never miss." She muttered under her breath.  
The Hungarian looked shaken as she hurriedly reloaded her revolver.

"You're going to get yours Beni!" Rick screamed as they drove past him. "You hear me? You're going to get yours!" Isobelle twisted again, preparing to shoot the bastard but Jonathon turned a corner at the same time she heard the little rat's arrogant reply;

"Like I've never heard that before!" Isobelle snarled angrily as she twisted back between the two Medjai.

"What did you mean you never miss?" Ardeth asked her she glared at him, the sheer force of her rage enough to silence even a dripping tap.  
She fell forward as Jonathon slammed on the breaks without warning.  
When Isobelle managed to shift up enough the insults she'd about to let loose on Jonathon died on her lips as she saw the solid wall of boil covered thralls.  
Isobelle sank silently down into her seat, wedged tightly between Ardeth and Terence, Daniels shifted then, trying to relieve the cramped space in the back seat as he too eyed the thralls warily.  
Isobelle froze when everything around her took on a crystalline quality and she saw her brother stepping onto Jonathon's foot and Daniels being ripped from the seat by Imhotep's slaves.

"Hold On!" Rick yelled slamming his foot down over Jonathon's and the car shot forward into the mass of slaves, mowing them down, some of the poor creatures;  
others managed to get a hold of the vehicle and those ones clung to it, trying to do all in their power to get Daniels and Isobelle out of the car.  
Isobelle handed her gun to Terence and pulled her knife out, twisting so her back was to the front of the car, ruthlessly killing any of the slaves that grabbed her.  
Terence shot several as well and Daniels did his best to fight them off as well, but it proved to not be enough.

"O'Connell!" the American screamed in terror as he was dragged from the vehicle.  
Ardeth gripped Isobelle around her waist and pushed her down under his and Terence's legs.  
The car crashed suddenly.

"Hurry!" Rick yelled in the confusion and Isobelle was yanked up roughly by Terence who shoved the tiny woman ahead of him, Ardeth grabbing Isobelle's wrist and dragging her forward into a dead end.  
They turned to see Imhotep and Beni appear out of the crowd.  
Terence had given Isobelle back her revolver and the weapon was tucked safely into the holster on her thigh, it's weight a comfort she sorely needed at that moment.

"It's the creature." Terence said grimly. "He's fully regenerated." Isobelle looked at the creature, studying him unconsciously, the peculiar sensations she felt whenever she was near enough to the creature, or in this case looking at him over took her.  
Imhotep spoke in ancient Egyptian and Beni translated the ancient priests words;

"Come with me my princess. It is time to make you mine, forever." Isobelle struggled to get away from the pull of the creature, gripping the first thing she touched; Ardeth's hand.  
The warrior glanced at her, noting how pale and scared she looked.

"It's for all eternity, Idiot." Evy hissed scathingly at Beni. Imhotep held his hand out to her, speaking again in his smooth low voice.

"Take my hand and I will spare your friend." The Hungarian translated and the pull Isobelle could feel increased.  
Terence looked at her in alarm and covered her eyes with his hand.

"Cover her ears. The creature is trying to draw her to him." Terence hissed and two calloused hands covered her ears, muting every sound into incomprehensibility.

"Let me see." Isobelle demanded urgently.  
She felt Terence shift beside her and then his hand was gone, he stood directly in front of her, and he held her gaze firmly, not letting her look anywhere else.  
The hands disappeared from her ears and she heard Rick pull his gun out before Terence's hands covered her ears.

"I'm sorry Isobelle, I cannot let you look or hear anything while the creature is nearby." Terence mouthed at her as she struggled to get his hands off of her ears.  
The older man kissed her gently on her forehead and pressed her face into his shoulder, wrapping his arms around her. "Be strong Isobelle O'Connell." He said as Evy shouted in horror, and then Isobelle was standing on her own, the pull was gone and Imhotep was disappearing into the crowd with Evy and Beni in tow, the next thing she knew they were being attacked, she pulled her sword out, ready to help Terence but Ardeth handed her down a sewer hole to Jonathon.

"NO! LET ME GO!" She screamed in the dark sewer. "RICK! RICK!" her terrified shrieks echoed in the concrete tunnel, Ardeth was standing beside her, trying to calm her down but that only made her more terrified, Rick jumped down the hole next, landing on top of Ardeth and slapping Isobelle smartly across the mouth.

"Enough. You're not there anymore Isobelle." He snapped irritably. "Let's go."


	8. Chapter 8 Return to Hamunaptra

**Hey guys, just finished editing this chapter. I'm already working on the next story while i'm chopping up this one and editing it. Hope you enjoy, give me any feedback you feel would be useful to me in my writing. Cheers. =D Also, I just found out i've been spelling Jonathan's name wrong. That's actually really awkward for me. =S**

Isobelle was mostly silent as they made their way to the fort, brooding about the panic attack that had over taken her in the sewers under the city.  
She heard Ardeth plying Rick with questions, trying to solve the mystery he seemed to think she was.

"If you want to know about the panic attack she had in the tunnel you'll have to ask her about it." Rick said shortly, almost unhappily.  
"I won't say anything without her permission.  
"As for how she knows Dr. Bey she ran into the museum one day, some men had chased her there from the marketplace after she'd been caught stealing an apple. She was nine when that happened.  
"He payed for the apple and then started giving her stuff to do to keep her out of trouble, even payed her for the work she did around the museum." Rick informed both men.  
Isobelle moved closer to her brother, needing to be close to someone she could trust. Wordlessly he tucked her under his shoulder.

"Terence noticed I was interested in learning so in the afternoons he would take an hour out of his duties as curator to teach me, Rick taught me how to shoot and fight with my fists,  
"but Terence is the one who put the khopesh in my hands and taught me how to use it." She smiled sadly, finally allowing herself to mourn her friend and mentor.  
They walked into the fort and up to an elderly pilot Isobelle recognised.

"Morning Winston." Rick called cheerfully. "A word?"  
Isobelle listened in silence.

"What does your little problem have to do with his majesty's government?" Winston asked suspiciously.

"Not a damn thing." Rick replied with brute honesty.

"Is it dangerous?" Winston was clearly becoming more interested in the venture the more he spoke to Rick.

"Well, you probably won't live through it." Rick shrugged nonchalantly and Winston lit up like a Christmas tree.

"By Jove, do you really think so?" Rick shrugged again but it was Jonathan who spoke this time.

"Everybody else we've bumped into has died, why not you?" the cheerful note in the pom's voice had Isobelle kicking Jonathan tiredly.

"What's the uh, challenge?" Winston stood up proudly, his faded blue eyes bright with the impending adventure.

"Rescue the damsel in distress" Rick said confidently.

"Kill the bad guy." Isobelle added with a quick grin at the old man in front of her.

"Save the world." Rick finished, smiling as he saw recognition light Winston's eyes.

"If it isn't little Miss Belle O'Connell!" Winston grinned, doffing his hat and bowing low to her.  
"You have grown my dear, into quite the young woman." Isobelle couldn't help blushing at the unexpected complement.  
"I should hope you are not the damsel?" Isobelle couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up as he teased her light heartedly.

"She always has been able to bring out the best in the veterans around here." Rick explained at the perplexed look Ardeth was giving the squat pilot.  
Jonathan was too busy eyeing off Isobelle as she smiled and laughed at the outrageous complements Winston showered on her. "So what do you say Winston?" Rick piped up after a moment. "Will you help us?" Winston straightened and saluted with a cheerful:

"Winston Haverlock, his majesty's RAF service at your service!" he winked at Isobelle with a jaunty laugh.

Amusement was written plainly across Isobelle's dark, finely sculpted delicate features as she watched her older brother strap Ardeth onto the wing of the plane with an old rope.  
The small Egyptian woman knelt negligently against the side of the plane and the black robed Medjai warrior glared sullenly at her as she stifled her contagious laughter.

"Are you not coming with us?" the compelling desert man demanded archly, his words repudiated by a grunt as Rick snapped the rope taught and tested it's strength.

"If I'm tied onto one of the wings it'll over balance the plane." She shrugged as she tried not to laugh. "I'll be in the cockpit with Rick." She grinned cheekily as Ardeth muttered darkly in Arabic about women.  
Winston came up behind Isobelle then, making a noise to let her know he was there at the same time Rick leapt up onto the wing of the plane and reached down for her.

"If you don't mind Miss Belle, I'll lift you up to your brother." Winston warned her quickly as he caught her about the waist and lifted her safely up onto the wing of the plane, refusing to let her go until Rick assured the pilot that Isobelle was steady on the wing of the plane.  
Then Winston climbed up himself, waiting until Rick was in the cockpit before offering his hand to the small woman.  
Isobelle thanked him quietly as she stepped carefully onto the seat of the plane between her brother's legs and then lowered herself in and tucking herself into a small ball in the cramped space.  
Rick briefly massaged her neck in reassurance as the engine of the plane roared into proud life.  
Isobelle shuddered with distaste and the plane lurched into motion.  
The small, dark haired woman found she knew the precise moment the plane was airborne and she squealed in fright, curling into a tighter ball between her brother's legs. Rick rubbed her back soothingly again.

"We'll be out of here soon enough Asha." Rick yelled over the thunderous rumble of the engine.  
Isobelle shuddered yet again but said nothing.

After what felt like forever Isobelle felt her brother twist around in his seat nearly dislodging her and she slapped his leg waspishly as she heard him ask the ponce on the right wing of the garishly yellow contraption if he was alright.  
She heard an indistinct response and Rick twisted again, earning another slap as the woman was nearly dislodged yet again.

"How ya doin'?" Rick asked, still facing the right of the plane where Ardeth was strapped down securely.  
Rick sat back and Isobelle shifted closer to her brother.  
Rick stiffened, tapped her shoulder briefly before twisting to yell at Winston. "Hey Winston!" Isobelle heard her brother yell at the old pilot. "Pedal faster."  
Isobelle looked up then, more terrified of not knowing what was going on than of the actual flight.  
She froze when she saw the leviathan wall of sand, the face of Imhotep imprinted squarely in the centre of it; Rick reached around her, shooting the wall desperately and Isobelle shifted forward, drawn involuntarily towards the face, unaware of her actions she tried to get out of the cockpit and Rick abandoned shooting at the wall to jerk her back down again.  
"What the hell are you doing Isobelle?" her brother demanded of her but she didn't hear him, entranced by the monster.

"Cover her eyes!" Ardeth yelled over the howl of the plane and the screaming wind. "She must not be allowed to look at the countenance of the creature."  
Isobelle felt the scream of frustration deep in her soul as her brother twisted her around, forcing her face into his shoulder.

"Hang on Lady and Men!" Winston yelled at the top of his lungs, ecstatic euphoria clear in his voice and Isobelle felt the gut wrenching drop as the plane went over the edge of a cliff in a steep nose dive, that quickly levelled out in swift, neat movements, seconds later the plane started spinning out of control in barrel roll after barrel roll, and Isobelle clearly heard Winston's joy filled shout; "Here I come Laddies!" Isobelle screamed in terror as Winston laughed maniacally.

Sand whipped around and over the party and she felt Rick throw her from the plane the second it crash landed in the sand.  
The small woman quickly tucked herself in, rolling as she hit the sand.

"Rick!" she screamed her brother's name when she rose on shaky legs, disoriented for a moment.  
She spun and saw her brother clambering out of the plane, throwing his bag onto the desert floor, near him, Ardeth was pulling the helmet Winston had given him off and throwing it aside.

"Is everyone all right?" Rick called out at the top of his lungs.  
Isobelle ran to her brother, jumping on him in her insurmountable relief. "It's good to see you're fine Asha." Rick hugged her back before setting her aside, jerking back when she punched him square on the jaw.

"Don't ever do that to me again Richard O'Connell!" she shouted at him angrily before stalking away from the wreckage.  
She turned to watch everything going on, seeing Ardeth jerk the Tommy gun off of the plane and check to see if it was loaded.

"Excuse me, umm." Jonathan demanded unhappily from where he dangled on what was now the underside of the plane wing. "A little help would be useful if it's not TOO MUCH TROUBLE!"  
Isobelle rolled her eyes and started to pick her way back over to the plane to untie Jonathan but Rick beat her to it, untying Jonathon and letting him drop unceremoniously onto the ground.

"Winston, hey Winston!" Rick called to the pilot.  
Isobelle looked at him, and as she did her vision changed subtly, she could see every pulse point as fluctuating lights on her brother's tall, bulky frame, she then looked at Jonathon and turned to stare at Ardeth, seeing the same thing on the two men, she then turned back to look at Winston and seeing nothing, just his still body.  
Rick had reached him, touching the pilot's jugular.

"Oh, Winston." Isobelle breathed mournfully and the plane started to sink into the burning white sand.

"Quicksand!" Ardeth shouted exigently. "Get back! It's quicksand!" The three men bolted for where Isobelle stood among some black rocks.  
The four of them stood together, Ardeth behind Isobelle, the young woman facing towards her brother as she watched Winston go down and Jonathan standing to the right and a little behind Rick, who saluted his old friend one last time before all of the wreckage disappeared into desert.

"Let's go." Rick said grimly, hefting his bag onto his shoulder and walking towards Hamunaptra.  
Isobelle, Jonathan and Ardeth followed on the American's heels.

Isobelle stopped pulling rocks up and staggered away from the others, leaning against the wall near a carving that still had most of its jewels embedded firmly into the stone wall.  
Ardeth and Rick continued removing the rocks from their path and Jonathan stood back a few feet, 'supervising' the work.

"I'd take those bigger stones first, and take them from the top or the whole thing will cave in on us." Jonathan urged them, holding the torch up but otherwise standing around lazily. "Come on; put your backs into it."  
Isobelle straightened, pulling her dagger out of her boot and cleaning her nails with it as she moved to stand beside Rick, who, along with Ardeth, had stopped working to glare at Jonathan.  
The Englishman gulped when he saw the wicked knife in the small Egyptian's hand. "Yes, well, you've got the idea."  
The fool giggled nervously. "Chop, chop."  
Isobelle put her dagger away again and turned to help the handsome Medjai warrior and her brother as they endeavoured to clear the small doorway.

She was partially aware of Jonathan walking over to the carving she'd been leaning near a minute before hand, inspecting it closely. "I say," Isobelle heard a small pop accompany Carnahan's words. "You should come and have a look at this." Isobelle paused to look, in time to see a small scarab burst out of the jewel Jonathan had prised from the wall and burrow under his skin.  
She staggered back in horror, falling onto the rock pile at the same time Jonathan screamed in agony.  
Rick and Ardeth turned, Rick tugging his sister up as he turned.

"What?" Rick demanded as he and Ardeth ran at Jonathan, Isobelle pulling her dagger back out of her boot.

"My arm, my ARM!" Jonathan shrieked, holding his arm away from himself, clearly wishing it weren't his arm the scarab was burrowing through.  
Rick ripped his shirt open, seeing the lump practically running up the Englishman's arm.

"Whoa!" Rick muttered before glancing at Ardeth. "Hold him."

"Do something, do something!" Isobelle handed her brother her dagger. "Not that, not that!"

"Quiet Carnahan." Isobelle snapped, gripping Jonathon's wrist and holding it out as Rick dug the dagger under Jonathan's skin and ripping the scarab out, sending it flying halfway across the room.  
Her brother then pulled his handgun out and shot the bug smoothly.  
Isobelle stayed away from the action as she cleaned the two incisions and bandaging them. "Don't touch anymore stuff Jonathan." She said with a sympathetic grin for the poor man.

"No problems." He replied weakly and Isobelle jumped back, shuddering from the contact with him more than anything else, uncomfortably aware of his eyes on her.

"We're through." Rick announced suddenly as he and Ardeth picked up their weapons.

**Okay, so, i've actually been asked if Isobelle is one of those 'I don't need a man' Superwomen. no she's not. she's just very wary of men after the incident, which will be revealed in the next story. Hope you enjoyed it. Ma'a salama.**


	9. Chapter 9 The final battle

**Hey guys, final chapter here. I'm going to add a nother document onto the end of this: It's nothing special, just a list of the Arabic words I used and a translation of them. Enjoy =D**

Isobelle shot through the opening after her brother gratefully, who held the torch as he led the way, Jonathan walked behind Isobelle and Ardeth brought up the rear.  
Her brother suddenly threw the torch ahead of him, which was followed closely by his bag, and then he himself leapt into the chamber he had found, shotgun at the ready.  
Isobelle felt Jonathan's hand brush against her posterior and she leapt into the room after her brother, nearly landing on him and twisting with her gun drawn, aimed past Ardeth who had pushed in front of Jonathan and was climbing into the chamber himself.  
The warrior froze, staring at the gun in her hands until he realised it was pointed behind him, turning, half raising his own weapon until he realised it was pointed at Jonathan.

"You touch me again and I will shoot you." She cautioned the Englishman before lowering her weapon.  
Rick turned and glared at Jonathan when he heard Isobelle say this, his bag already slung across his chest.  
Isobelle watched her brother as he slowly turned away from Jonathan, pulled his gun out and shot an ancient mirror that was high up.

Isobelle was amazed when she saw the huge room lit up, surrounded by glittering gold and jewels, all covered in three thousand years worth of dust and cobwebs. She looked around the chamber in awe as they all started walking down the stairs into the room, towards the next exit.

"Can you see?" Jonathan asked breathlessly.

"Yeah." The O'Connells acknowledged.

"Can you believe?"

"Yeah." Rick said again, looking around the room himself.

"Can we just-"

"No." Isobelle cut him off shortly.  
A cute chirping sound was heard a split second before some not so cute mummies burst through the floor of the treasure chamber, they were the cause of the chirping.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Rick directed the question at Ardeth, expecting the Medjai warrior to know, and he did;

"Priests. Imhotep's priests." Isobelle pulled her .303 rifle out of Rick's pack, along with an ammunition belt and loaded the gun with swift, practised movements; the ammunition belt she slung around her neck, slipping her free hand through the strap.

"All right then." Isobelle said as she took aim and shot one of the chirping corpses.  
Rick quickly joined her, followed closely by Ardeth. Jonathan grabbed Rick's hand guns from their holsters and shot at the mummies, missing most of them.  
Isobelle soon had a routine going, reload the rifle, pull out the next round; shoot a corpse, and repeat.  
Beside her Ardeth shot at the corpses as well, firing in short bursts.  
On her other side Rick had a similar system to hers, the only difference being he pulled out two rounds before shooting.

Jonathan ran out of bullets and threw the guns in his hands at the encroaching mummies before the four humans slipped through the opening they had been aiming for.  
In the room they entered was the statue of Horus.

"There he is!" Jonathan announced loudly, relief evident in his tone. "Hello Horus old boy." He looked at the statue with a huge grin on his face.  
Isobelle frowned at her brother as he shoved his gun at her, pulling out a stick of dynamite and a match.

"Just how do you intend to light that?" Isobelle asked sardonically, Rick glanced at her, then scraped the match along Ardeth's stubbly cheek.  
Ardeth looked at him as the American lit the fuse.

"Time to close the door." Rick announced, throwing the explosive into the doorway and diving behind the statue.  
Ardeth wrapped himself around Isobelle's much smaller frame protectively just in front of the plinth.  
Jonathan ducked down with a high pitched shriek as the deceptively small stick detonated.

As the dust cleared Ardeth stood up slowly; leaving Isobelle feeling strangely bereft.  
Rick and Jonathan had already started digging for the book of Amun-Ra when a couple of the priests started walking towards them, slowly, chirping frantically.

Damn, These things just don't give up do they?" Rick demanded, turning to pick up his gun and shooting at the mummies.

"Just keep digging."Ardeth ordered shortly, reloading the Tommy and firing at the corpses again.  
Isobelle immediately jumped back into her routine from previously, systematically shooting the mummified priests.  
There was a thud behind her but she refused to turn around.

"The book of Amun-Ra." Jonathan whispered breathlessly.

"Save the girl. Kill the creature." Ardeth ordered, looking at Isobelle sadly.  
She nodded grimly and he turned and ran down another tunnel that more of the mummies were emanating from with a fierce battle cry.  
Jonathan and Rick looked after the Medjai warrior in shock and she just turned to look at them.

"What are you waiting for?" She demanded. "You heard the man." They nodded and turned to run down another tunnel.  
Isobelle raised her hand after her brother in silent goodbye and ran after the compelling, handsome, rugged desert man.

Ardeth had run out of bullets by the time Isobelle reached him, she met his gaze steadily, fully aware that Rick would be furious when he realised Isobelle wasn't with him and Jonathan, as it was, Ardeth looked like he was about to have an epileptic fit.  
She turned to stare steadily at the mummies in front of her, shooting them, Ardeth pulled his own sword out and started swinging it at the creatures, cutting them down.  
The tiny woman gave up on shooting the creatures, pulling her sword out she stood back to back with the warrior, fighting the creatures even long after she should have given up from exhaustion.

Rick cut the rope next to the one he was dangling from and shot upwards onto another landing, he saw a doorway and shot through it, turning and running back through it and down some stairs when he saw more of the guards appear ahead of him. Jonathan was struggling with an inscription on front of the golden book and Evy was busy fighting for her life against the bandage wrapped corpse of Anck-Sun-Amun.

Isobelle and Ardeth fought hard but there seemed to be no end to the corpses of Imhotep's priests.

"No matter what happens, I am glad to have had this opportunity to fight with you at my side." Ardeth said as he killed another mummy.

"Save the sentiment for when we get out of here." Isobelle grunted in return, pulling her hand gun out and shooting one of the creatures, the loud report almost deafening in the confined space.

"Kadeeshmahl Kadeeshmahl." Evy read from the book, her voice loud and clear as she chanted the quick incantation. "Paradous Paradous."  
A ghostly chariot appeared through the doorway, shooting through Imhotep, taking away a ghostly image of him.  
The high priest ran after the chariot crying out in dismay.

"I thought you said that was going to kill him." Rick complained as the ancient priest turned and advanced on the American.

Around the two of them the walking corpses dropped where they stood, crumbling away into nothingness as they hit the ground.  
Isobelle's knees buckled with relief and she knocked Ardeth over, the two of them tumbling to the floor of the treasure room.

"They did it." Isobelle sighed happily as she rolled off of the warriors back, flopping onto her own back. "We won." Ardeth was picking himself up from the sandy floor when she said this and he chuckled.

"Let's get out of here." He suggested, holding a hand out to help her up.  
She accepted it and he pulled her up.

"I suppose I should say goodbye to my brother shouldn't I?" she asked as she swiftly retrieved her rifle.

"Why?" Ardeth frowned as she strung the weapon over her shoulder.

"I'm going with you." She said seriously resisting the urge to smile at his gobsmacked expression.  
Around them there was a rumbling sound and the ceiling started lower inexorably over them. "Time to go." Isobelle remarked, running back the way she had gone before, followed closely by Ardeth, who was pacing himself to make certain she got out.

Once out in the desert Isobelle turned to watch the city crumble, surprised when Ardeth swooped down and kissed her, a hard desperate kiss that she quickly found herself returning fervently.  
When they came up from the kiss for air Ardeth simply held her, resting his forehead against hers.

"We should go." He whispered and she nodded, lowering her eyes as he let go of her.

Rick Evy and Jonathan had made it safely out of the city, huffing as they stopped, turning to see Hamunaptra collapse around them.  
Isobelle rested her head on Ardeth's shoulder watching them with a sad smile on her face, her arms wrapped loosely around his waist.  
Ardeth reached down from his perch, clapping a hand on Jonathan's shoulder. The Englishman shrieked and leapt away, turning as he did and raising a hand to his heart.

"Thank you very much." Jonathan snapped angrily. Isobelle was hyperaware of her brother's eyes on her.

"You have earned the gratitude and respect of my people." Ardeth announced to the trio on the ground.

"Yes, well, it was nothing." Jonathan brushed it off, not really aware that no one was paying attention to him.

"May Allah smile upon you Always." Ardeth saluted them all, Isobelle saw Jonathan make an indifferent parody of a cross as he turned away unhappily.

"And yourself." Isobelle smiled at her brother, hoping to reassure him that she was happy with her decision.

"I hope you find what you're looking for Asha." Rick said, patting her ankle affectionately before stepping away from the camel, Evy ducked under his arm and looked curiously up at the young woman.

"What are you doing Isobelle?" The sweet librarian asked curiously.

"I'm going home." Isobelle said as she looked at Ardeth lovingly, who met her gaze over his shoulder.

"Goodbye Isobelle." Rick said to her as Ardeth turned the camel towards the sunset.

"Goodbye, Richard." She responded as the beast carried the pair into the desert.


	10. Chapter 10 Just some translations

Shukran Thank you

Kayamma Mother

Aafwaan You're welcome

Bint Daughter

Ma'a salama Good bye (Leaving)

Alla ysalmak Good bye (staying behind.)

Inzil Get down

Lema'atha'a Why?


End file.
